Now, all of the picks for the "super committee" are in. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced today that representing the House Democrats on the debt reduction committee will be Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, James Clyburn of South Carolina, and Xavier Becerra of California. Other leaders announced their picks earlier this week. The committee's 12 members are tasked with finding $1.5 trillion in cuts to the national debt by Nov. 23.
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All of Pelosi's appointees are closely tied to her and her leadership team. Van Hollen was previously the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Larson and Becerra are the chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the House Democratic Caucus. They'll be expected to hold the Democratic line that whatever recommendations the committee makes, it should include some new government revenues and should avoid cuts to Medicare benefits. Which isn't to say the picks don't also have expertise on the issues the committee will be scrutinizing. Van Hollen, for instance, is the ranking member of the House Budget committee, and was a Democratic negotiator during the debt ceiling talks over the summer.
Pelosi's picks underscore the D.C. conventional wisdom that if a deal is made, it will likely be senators, such as Montana Democrat Max Baucus or Ohio Republican Rob Portman, who will act as brokers.
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Reader Comments Read all comments (2)
Lawful not Legal of CA 5:07PM August 14, 2011
Jose Colon of NY 6:50AM August 12, 2011