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Van Hollen Rejects GOP Super Committee Offer

By: Matt Laslo // November 18, 2011
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 A lot of pressure is on Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D) and the other members of the deficit reducing "super committee" to reach a compromise soon. But Van Hollen says Republicans are to blame for the current gridlock. 

The special panel has less than a week to find more than $1 trillion in budget savings, but the two sides remain at an impasse. Republicans put an offer of approximately $300 billion in new tax revenues on the table, but they insisted on extending tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. 

Van Hollen says that offer was good for a headline but was never a serious proposal. "They said that they were not going to go anywhere beyond the totally unbalanced proposal they had on the table," he says. 

Republicans say their budget outline is the only serious proposal that's been laid out so far and they say it's time for Democrats to compromise. The super committee has until next Wednesday to reach a deal or $1.2 trillion dollars will be automatically cut from the Pentagon and other programs in 2013.

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