Kirk: Supercommittee will find consensus on cuts

U.S. Senator Mark Kirk Wednesday outlined several actions he expects Congress to take in the coming weeks to help revive the nation’s sluggish economy.

Kirk, a Highland Park Republican, said he believes that Congress will divide up portions of President Barack Obama’s jobs plan and “pass it in individual parts’ which enables it to have a much larger chance of at least partial success.

By separating out specific ideas — including the Republican-supported plan for a payroll tax holiday — Kirk said he believes pieces of legislation would “shoot through” the GOP-controlled House instead of languishing as a whole.

Kirk also believes that Congress will approve full funding for the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year, instead of in temporary chunks, with an 8 to 10 percent overall reduction in federal spending.

Lastly, Kirk said, he believes the bipartisan “supercommittee,” will in fact be able to meet its deadline of finding at least $1.5 trillion in deficit savings by Thanksgiving in order to avert across-the-board cuts.

“I think the supercommittee is getting along,” Kirk said. “They have a vow of silence which helps the bipartisan atmosphere.”

That silence, Kirk said, should not be underestimated. “Because we don’t read much about it, we can understate what’s happening behind the scenes.”

Kirk said both he and fellow U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin — a Springfield Democrat — are in favor of the “go big” strategy cutting $4 trillion from the deficit over the next decade.

That plan is also favored by the Blue Dog coalition of fiscally conservative Democrats.

Kirk said he’s unsure, however, whether that strategy has a viable chance.

“Some have said, no, they’ll probably just hit their target (of $1.5 trillion in cuts.)”