Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that he is willing to consider supporting new tax revenue as part of a plan to avert $85 billion in looming budget cuts, as the White House pushed back against Republican lawmakers who say President Obama is solely responsible for the spending reductions.
McCain made the comments as he once again warned about the adverse effects of the spending reductions, known as sequestration, that will require federal agencies to slash $85 billion in spending by Sept. 30 — including $43 billion at the Pentagon.
“Republicans and Democrats are responsible for this new cliff and I’ll take responsibility for it for the Republicans,” McCain said of the spending cuts. “But we’ve got to avoid it. We’ve got to stop it.”
Averting the cuts “requires bipartisanship,” McCain added. “Will I look at revenue closers? Maybe so. But we’ve already just raised taxes. Why do we have to raise taxes again?”
McCain, who made his comments on “Fox News Sunday,” has spoken out regularly about how the budget cuts could affect the military. His sentiments echoed those of outgoing Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, who recently said that the sequester would turn the U.S. military “into a second-rate power.”
Despite McCain’s openness to possible new tax revenues, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told ABC’s “This Week” that House Republicans would oppose new taxes as part of any short-term deal to turn off the cuts because, “The president’s accepted no spending cuts back in the fiscal cliff deal 45 days ago.” ...
READ MORE>>> [2]
