WASHINGTON — Mayor Bloomberg rode into Washington yesterday and delivered his solution to the nation’s crippling debt crisis — or, at least, he told Congress and the White House how to fix it.
He said it was as easy as getting Republicans to accept tax increases and Democrats to accept modest reforms of Social Security and Medicare.
“All sides have to be willing to give on something. We don’t have to slaughter the sacred cows, but we do need to get a little milk from them,” Hizzoner said in a speech here at the liberal Center for American Progress.
The advice was aimed directly at Congress’ bipartisan supercommittee, which has until Thanksgiving — in just two weeks — to agree on at least $1.2 trillion in deficit-reduction measures.
If the supercommittee fails, massive cuts for the Pentagon and Medicare will automatically take effect.
Bloomberg suggested that Republicans allow all the Bush-era tax cuts to expire at the end of 2012, not just for the wealthy but for middle-class taxpayers too.
He also proposed subjecting “carried interest” earned by hedge-fund managers to regular income-tax rates, instead of the current lower rate.
“I say this even though many of the people who would be affected are my constituents — and I’ll probably be getting a few phone calls later today,” Bloomberg joked.
Additional reporting by David Seifman
in New York