Dick Durbin not willing to give entitlement reform even for GOP concession on tax increases

This is why Republicans should NOT cave on tax increases because they’ll just end up holding an empty bag and the country will lose again:

POLITICO – Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin has a message for Republicans insisting on wholesale changes to entitlement programs in exchange for new tax revenue: not yet.

In a speech later this morning that seeks to crystalize the progressive approach to deficit reduction, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat will try to split the debate about overhauling Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from the negotiations over resolving the fiscal cliff.

“Progressives should be willing to talk about ways to ensure the long-term viability of Medicare and Medicaid but those conversations should not be part of a plan to avert the fiscal cliff,” Durbin says, according to excerpts provided by his office. The speech is taking place at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

The Illinois Democrat reiterates the view of many in his party that Social Security isn’t a driver of the nation’s deficit. And he insisted that current beneficiaries be protected from changes to any program.

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