The Super-Committee didn’t fail. The failure was the creation of the Super-Committee itself. It was created as a result of the false, politically manufactured debt ceiling crisis last August. By not reaching an agreement, the Super-Committee produced the best outcome of any of the options that were on the table in this terribly misguided process.
“See? We can rebuild the American dream,” Anne Leonard says in The Story of Broke. It will take a unified movement for tax fairness to fund a people’s budget and a government that is accountable to all of us, not just the rich.
Democrats on the Super Committee have already offered $400 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, even though Republicans still refuse to raise taxes on the wealthy. In fact, they want even more tax cuts for the wealthiest households. A bad deal is worse than no deal at all. Your senators need to hear that you want a deal that will serve our country as a whole, not just the rich.
The twelve members of the congressional Super-Committee charged with finding at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction are nearing their November 23rd deadline. The decisions that they make will determine the direction that our country and economy take for years to come. They will be making choices about the future of vital social programs, tax policy and military spending.