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Rep. Cole: Republicans Don’t Need To Put Forward A Plan

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) said Sunday Republicans do not need to put forward a counter offer to President Obama’s debt deal proposal. Cole was responding to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who made the rounds on the Sunday shows calling on Republicans to put forward their own plan debt-reduction plan.

“I don’t think we need to put a formal proposal out on the table,” Cole said on ABC’s “This Week.” “Speaker [John Boehner] has already said revenue is on the table. He has got an idea about how to get there in terms of not raises rates, but finding it in other ways through tax code reform. I think that makes a lot of sense, and that’s a doable thing, but beyond that, you know, we’ll wait and see how the negotiations go.”

Cole also bashed the plan Geithner brought to congressional leaders this week. “I want to thank the president and Tim Geithner for re-uniting and re-energizing the Republican caucus,” he said. “Because that offer — they must think John Boehner is Santa Claus, because that is a Christmas wish list, not a real proposal.”

Dan Senor, a top Romney adviser during the campaign, disagreed with Cole. “I do think the Republican leadership at some point here needs to put forward publicly its plan,” he said on the show. “I mean, that is something that — it’s sort of an awkward negotiation. I do think the president has gone way too far out on the left.”