House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., squared off in dueling USA Today op-eds over the super committee's failure to produce a plan to reduce the deficit, each blaming the opposing party for its refusal to compromise.
“I did everything possible to support the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction,” Boehner said.
Republicans, he added, made “good-faith offers,” even when not everyone in the party was enthusiastic about their content. Boehner blamed President Obama and Democrats who “insisted on dramatic tax hikes on American job creators.”
Reid, on the other hand, said that Republicans caved to the “tea party extremists and millionaire lobbyists” in their party. Democrats were ready to make a grand bargain, but Republicans refused to meet them halfway, Reid wrote.
The Senate majority leader said that he would oppose any efforts to walk back the automatic spending cuts that are scheduled to take place since the 12-member panel failed to reach agreement. Boehner said his next effort will be finding common ground with Democrats to address health care costs without tax increases.
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