Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) Says Senate Republicans Will Support Tax Increases

A few weeks ago, I reported that the Senate Republicans’ point man on dealing with the deficit, Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), said he’d support tax increases as a means to reduce the deficit. Chambliss promptly denied it.

Yesterday, in the New York Times, Chambliss admitted he and the Senate Republicans will support tax increases to pay off the deficit.

Mr. Chambliss has been increasingly outspoken in arguing that additional revenues must be part of a debt-reduction plan, given the scale of the problem.

“I’m taking arrows from some on the far right,” he told the Rotary Club of Atlanta in an appearance with Mr. Warner on Monday. “Are some people going to pay more in taxes? You bet.”

Mitch McConnell put Chambliss in charge of the issue for the Republicans. He is their point man.

You can see now what is taking shape as we head toward the fight over the debt ceiling. Senate Republicans will agree not just to ending all deductions and credits in the tax code and lowering the tax rate while expanding the base — a step I support. The Senate Republicans will support higher taxes too.

Chambliss has already attacked Paul Ryan‘s “Path to Prosperity” because, in Chambliss’s words, Ryan is able to balance the budget without cutting defense spending.

Senate Republicans are going to support raising the debt ceiling and raising taxes all while refusing to demand passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment. House Republican Leaders will no doubt decide that . . . well . . . Republicans only control one house of one branch of government so . . . .

Bend over America.

By the way, his “arrows from the far right” is code for me. Seriously. Following that we have this:

Perhaps more troublesome for Mr. Chambliss have been critics at home like Erick Erickson, a conservative blogger, Atlanta radio talk-show host and CNN contributor. “Is Saxby Chambliss Becoming a Democrat?” Mr. Erickson asked in a recent blog post.

Note that neither Chambliss, nor the Democrats, are taking serious fire from the left. It’s just conservatives who Chambliss is happy to take “arrows” from.