Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is suggesting the emerging deal on raising the nation's debt limit could look at reforming the tax code later in the year.
In an appearance Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation, McConnell said a bipartisan committee of Congress—which would be created by the emerging debt deal with the White House—could address realigning the tax system, as well as saving money from entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
"Well, they are going to have a broad mandate to look across the federal government, including tax reform, which virtually every Republican I know thinks is a good idea, to tackle tax reform. The president also wants to tackle tax reform. They can do that. We fully expect them to deal with entitlement reform," McConnell said.
The issue of taxes has been particularly sensitive in Congress. Democrats want to close tax loopholes that benefit the rich and corporations like oil firms, and Republicans are resisting because many have signed "no new taxes" pledges and are worried levies will hurt jobs.