http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/?hp=44Congress turns to tax reform
By BURGESS EVERETT |
12/15/13 8:56 AM EST
Updating the federal tax code could be the next area that the Democratic Senate can find common ground with the Republican House, according to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, said that he expects Republicans in the House to begin moving on tax reform early in 2014, starting with action on the House Ways and Means Committee on which Ryan serves.
"Watch the Ways and Means Committee in the first quarter of next year," Ryan said in an interview aired Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." We're going to be advancing tax reform legislation because we think that's a key ingredient to getting people back to work, to increasing take-home pay, to growing this economy."
If the he two chambers begin movement on updating the tax code, the biggest problem might be figuring out how to use new revenues or savings. Democrats will likely pursue some measure of stimulus, while Republicans would likely reject new spending and turn toward deficit reduction or neutrality.
But fresh of striking a symbolically important budget deal with Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, said cooperation could be found in that area as well.
"Where the divide comes is what you would do with any revenue that was generated from that. But that doesn't mean we couldn't ever find a compromise with that. It would be an intense discussion," Murray said. "There was intense discussions in here, in this room. But yes, you can find that ground."