The Hill News

A Republican member of the congressional supercommittee charged with finding at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction says he won’t go into the negotiations ready to say ‘no.’

“I’m not going to start off the committee by saying what I won’t do,” Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said, according to mlive.com. “I do understand the different perspectives, so the one question I will ask throughout all of this is, ‘Will this effort help the private sector create jobs?’”

As part of the legislation to raise the debt ceiling, a 12-member bipartisan supercommittee was established to find at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction by Nov. 23. If the committee is able to agree on a proposal, it will go to Congress for an up-or-down vote.

Democrats on the comm! ittee have said that everything should be on the table in the negotiations, while Republicans have vowed not to agree to any deal that includes tax hikes.

A report from Reuters earlier this month quoted Camp saying he didn’t want to rule anything out in the negotiations.

“Everything is on the table, until we as a group rule it out,” he said.

But a spokesman for the House Ways and Means Committee (of which Camp is chairman) said Camp will not agree to any deal that includes tax increases.

The committee will begin work when Congress returns from recess.