Despite Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn’s break from the bipartisan “Gang of Six” budget negotiations, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vowed Wednesday to push on with the effort to fashion a compromise plan to tackle the nation’s long-term deficit.
“We’ve made way too much progress to not keep moving forward,” Warner said Wednesday on a conference call with reporters.
“This is kind of 2004 on steroids in terms of its importance,” he added, alluding to the budget deal he helped broker with General Assembly Republicans as governor of Virginia.
But negotiations hit an impasse this week when, Coburn, a Republican, proposed cutting an additional $130 billion from Medicare — beyond the $400 billion in cuts recommended by President Obama’s deficit commission, according to an aide familiar with the negotiations.
Still, Warner, who, along with Sen Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., started the group, vowed to press on. The group also includes Sens. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho; Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D.,
“I still expect that we’re going to have a product,” said Warner. “I still think the right approach is a comprehensive approach…and that’s what this bipartisan group is going to keep working towards.”
That comprehensive approach could involve an overhaul to the federal tax code, including doing away with popular tax breaks like the mortgage-interest deduction, as well as cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare.
“Both sides have had to grapple with the tough issues,” he said. “There have been no tough issues that this group has punted on.”
“I think the sensible center is alive and well across Virginia and across America,” he added.
