Source:The Hill– U.S. Senator Kent Conrad (Democrat, North Dakota) Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.

“Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) on Tuesday presented a budget proposal to Senate Democrats that calls for an even balance — 50 percent to 50 percent — of spending cuts and tax increases to reduce the deficit.

The emerging consensus on Capitol Hill is there should be at least $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next 10 years. To meet that goal, Congress would have to increase tax revenues by $2 trillion over the next decade with an equal amount of spending cuts.”

From The Hill

Senator Kent Conrad (Democrat, North Dakota) officially Chairman of the Budget Committee, is really Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s  lead point-man on fiscal policy, is going to release a deficit reduction plan and debt ceiling bill in the Budget Committee, that will include a combination of budget cuts, as well as tax hikes on high-earners. Hopefully it will also include ending corporate welfare, especially for big oil which is doing great on its own right now.

Chairman Conrad unlike Chairman Paul Ryan in House and I speak a very similar language on deficit reduction and fiscal policy as a whole. Chairman Conrad was in the Senate the last time Congress and the Administration took on deficit reduction in the early, mid and late 90s. He played a role in drafting the 1990 Deficit Reduction Act which had a tax hikes on high-earners, as well as budget buts in areas where we could afford to cut, like in Cold War defense.

Senator Conrad was also in Congress in 1993, 1997 when we went though deficit reduction with President Bill Clinton and those bills had budget cuts as well as entitlement reform. The 1990 and 97 bills being bipartisan, the 1993 Clinton bill being party line. Chairman Conrad unlike Chairman Ryan, actually has experience at deficit reduction and doing it successfully.

Senate Democrats really should go on record on deficit reduction and get the White House on board. And draft their own plan, because the Senate minority party can’t block budget items. Democrats have 53 members: they should form a united front and pass their own bill in the Senate and send it to the House.

Americans should have a choice: do you want to do deficit reduction responsibly or do it by ending Medicare. And giving women tax hikes for getting an abortion. It would be a win win for them on policy and political grounds.