Dems draw red line on raising Medicare age, complicating talks

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

While Democrats claim Republican resistance to tax hikes has hamstrung House Speaker John Boehner in talks over the looming fiscal crisis, President Obama's allies are drawing some red lines of their own.

The result is that anything Obama and Boehner might agree to faces an uncertain fate on the floors of the House and Senate.

The item that has most galvanized Democrats in opposition is the prospect of raising the Medicare eligibility age. This was included in Boehner's counterproposal last week and has long been discussed as part of a long-term deficit-reduction package.

But while talks between Boehner and Obama sputter, Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill have used the window to mount a stiff resistance. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi this week gave the idea a big thumbs-down, only to be echoed days later by Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate.

"Raising the Medicare age represents more of the same," Pelosi wrote in a USA Today column. "For seniors nearing retirement, it means less security for themselves and their families. It betrays the bedrock promise of Medicare: that Americans who work hard and take responsibility all their lives can know dignity in their later years."

The hardening opposition among Democrats to this entitlement cut has only complicated talks between Obama and Boehner. While Obama blames Republican opposition to raising taxes on the top 2 percent, Boehner has taken to blaming Obama for glossing over the need for entitlement cuts.

Neither side feels the other has given enough ground -- meaning there is no agreement, with a slew of spending cuts and tax hikes set to take effect in a little more than two weeks.

"The president and his allies have taken so many things off the table the only thing left is the varnish," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell complained on the Senate floor earlier this week.

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No compromise, no deal?