Congressman Himes on Debt Ceiling Negotiations

A deadline looms large for Congress to reach a budget deal that includes  raising the U.S borrowing limit. If leadership fails to do so by August 2, the country could default on its debt for the first time ever.  WNPR's Lucy Nalpathanchil reports on the perspective of 4th district Congressman Jim Himes.

Congressman Himes sits on the House Finance Committee. He spoke about the latest budget wrangling Monday on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show.
President Obama and Democrats want a budget deal to include both spending cuts and tax increases, but Republicans are not on board. Himes says eliminating specific tax deductions are part of the negotiating.

"Frankly I have said, because I think they're absurd. We shouldn't be giving tax breaks to oil companies. Now a lot of Americans are getting deductions for mortgage interest they pay, also deductible intrested on home equity loans. Now economists would say, both are bad but obviously both have their strong advocates."

Other deductions include eliminating tax breaks for wealthy hedge fund managers. Brian Lehrer specifically asked Himes' about this proposal since it impacts some of the Connecticut congressman's constituents.

"Well, ha, the reason we talk about tax breaks for hedge fund managers, and corporate jets and oil companies is because these are pretty easy to get the bulk of American people saying, 'hey that sounds like a good idea,' But look if we really push here, they're relatively small amounts of money compared for example to something you don't hear people demagoging, like for example the mortgage interest tax deduction."

At the same time Himes says " this isn't the time to be messing around with the housing industry" although he says eliminating mortgage interest tax deductions for people that own second homes makes more sense than eliminating it for all Americans.

President Obama wants Congressional leadership to meet every day until August 2 with the hopes of getting a compromise deal in place.