John Boehner and Mitch McConnell put some real thought into their picks for the Joint Super Committee that will decide the fate of so many spending programs and perhaps the financial health of the country.

Harry Reid? Not so much.

Boehner picked two real deal-makers in Dave Camp and Fred Upton, and a guy who learned how to drive a hard-bargain from the best hard-bargainer in the business (Phil Gramm) in Jeb Hensarling.

Neither Camp nor Upton are partisan bomb-throwers. Upton ran into some resistance from the hard right to his ascension to the Energy and Commerce Committee because he was viewed as too moderate, although Fred has been a very reliable conservative in his role as Chairman.

Upton has long experience in budget politics, having served at OMB under Reagan. He is also an expert on entitlement programs, and his appointment shows that Boehner is serious about getting serious on spending.

Camp has been very thoughtful in his new role as Chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. He said that he wasn’t going to jam the Ryan Medicare bill through the House only to see it die in the Senate, a signal to the world that Camp was no Kamikaze pilot on smashing the Republican Majority into a Senate cliff.  Read more...