Dick Durbin: In debt ceiling debate, both sides have to give
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., on Tuesday called for "honest" debate over the debt ceiling, and argued that lawmakers should heed to the recommendations of a bipartisan deficit commission that suggested trillions of dollars in reductions by leaving "everything on the table."
Durbin, in a Tuesday interview with CBS News' Erica Hill on "The Early Show," argued that "each side has to give" - be it Democrats or Republicans.
(Watch Durbin and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., discuss the debt ceiling debate above.)
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"We've got to be honest, whether it's entitlements or taxes, let's be honest," Durbin said.
"Let's do something that's significant, let's follow the deficit commission, which was $4.5 trillion on a bipartisan basis with everything on the table," urged Durbin, who was on the commission. "That is a sensible approach - Democrats and Republicans ought to buy in."
The number two Senate Democrat also lambasted Republicans for their staunch opposition to raising taxes for the wealthy - a matter that has become a key sticking point in the negotiations.
"To say that there's no person so wealthy in America that they couldn't pay a penny more in taxes, and no special interest tax deal so good in America that it couldn't be examined and perhaps reduced, is not a good starting point," Durbin said.
