WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker John Boehner says he has high hopes that a congressional "supercommittee" will be able to reach "common ground" on a plan to cut the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over a decade.
But the most powerful Republican in Washington says that finding common ground doesn't necessarily mean compromising one's principles, a none-to-subtle hint that he remains strongly opposed to increasing taxes as part of the solution to deficits exceeding $1 trillion a year.
Boehner's remarks to a group of students at the University of Louisville came as the secretive 12-member bipartisan panel remains deadlocked less than a month before its deadline. Democrats say tax revenues are a precursor to any agreement to curb spending on costly benefits programs like Medicare.