It was unclear Tuesday whether Conrad’s move was intended to pressure the Gang of Six, who after meeting at least three times this week were said to be hung up on a number of sensitive details. Among them: how to design mechanisms that would force congressional committees to meet an array of spending and tax targets over the next two years.
Conrad’s plan did not find quick favor in his own party, where many liberals are adamantly opposed to the Gang of Six approach, which they view as ceding too much ground to the Republican call for sharp cuts to the social safety net. After Conrad detailed his plan at a private luncheon of Senate Democrats and their independent allies, Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), a Budget Committee member, raged that it would “balance the budget on the backs of the sick, the elderly and the poor, who are already hurting.”
Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), also a member of the budget panel, said he would favor a plan based on the approach of “shared sacrifice” espoused by the Gang of Six and President Obama’s fiscal commission, but only if Republicans also signed on. Such a blueprint, Cardin said, would be acceptable “as a starting point” for Democrats.
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) cautioned lawmakers to withhold judgment on the Conrad proposal — or any other — until the debate is more fully engaged.
“At this stage, they should all be very, very careful signing onto a piece of legislation until we know what the endgame is,” Reid told reporters. “There are a lot of things floating around here. . . . Let’s not be signing onto all this stuff until we really know where we’re headed.”
Republican leaders, meanwhile, seemed dismissive of Conrad’s budget and the Gang of Six efforts, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) turning attention toward the Biden talks. That effort, he said, “will, in my view, lead to some kind of conclusion.”
Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), the senior Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, echoed that position, encouraging the parties to stage an open debate rather than leaving such consequential decisions to the Gang of Six.
“We do have some differences of view on deeply important issues, and I say let’s have it out,” Sessions told reporters. “The idea that there will just be harmony out of an agreement that would change the course of America probably is expecting too much.”
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