Aides Say Supercommittee Unlikely to Reach Grand Bargain

The bipartisan supercommittee charged with recommending $1.25 trillion in budget cuts is unlikely to reach the grand bargain that some in Washington seek, sources close to the process tell Politico.

 

Top aides to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his chief deputy, Jon Kyl — who sits on the deficit panel — said Democratic insistence on tax hikes dooms the committee’s chances for going big.

 

Republicans say some “fees” can be instituted to raise revenue, an idea considered during the failed deficit-reduction negotiations led by Vice President Joe Biden earlier in the year.

 

But the only way a grand bargain could gain GOP approval is if it was linked to a restructuring of Social Security or House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s proposal to make Medicare a voucher-based system, the Republican aides say.