Ezra Klein: Ron Wyden, Senator From Planet Where Congress Works

[babylonsister]

I WISH I could say 'that's my Senator!'


Ron Wyden, Senator From Planet Where Congress Works

By Ezra Klein


There’s a joke that Senator Ron Wyden’s staff members pass around the office. When they’re tired and overworked by their Energizer Bunny of a boss, it’s delivered with a sarcastic bite. When they’ve had their full eight hours of sleep, it’s their rallying cry. “You got a problem?” they say to one another. “Ron Wyden has a comprehensive, bipartisan solution to fix it.”

It’s true. The country has problems. And Ron Wyden has comprehensive, bipartisan proposals for fixing them.

Take tax reform. Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan might have galvanized the Republican presidential campaign for a week or two, but it’s an unworkable mess. Members of the Obama administration might say they want to overhaul the tax code, but they haven’t offered specifics, and they don’t have a working relationship with the Republican Party to pass anything in Congress.

But Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, has a plan. Originally, it was co-sponsored by Judd Gregg, a Republican senator from New Hampshire. But he retired in 2010. Now it’s co-sponsored by Dan Coats, a Republican senator from Indiana. The plan wipes out a raft of deductions and exemptions; lowers rates for individuals and corporations; eliminates the alternative minimum tax; makes filing easier and, for many Americans, automatic; and is roughly revenue neutral with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts for households with income more than $250,000. It’s not as radical as some other ideas out there, but then, neither is the political system. I would bet that Wyden’s plan ends up pretty close to what we eventually get.

If Wonks Ruled

more...

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2011/10/ron_wyden_senator_from_planet032935.php