Rep. Raul M. Grijalva

The co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are rounding up Democratic signatures on a letter, obtained by TPM, pressing the 12 member panel to pair emergency jobs legislation with deficit reducing measures based on tax increases on wealthy Americans. "We ask that you lead the Select Committee by these simple core principles," write Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN). "The American people have spoken loud and clear on their priorities for our nation. They want Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare protected, they want billionaires and corporations to finally pay their fair share and they want to be able to get back to work to earn a fair living."

On the heels of a report from the CBO that says full employment would reduce the deficit by a third, the House Progressive Caucus is urging the Super Congress to focus its efforts on jobs, as well as on protecting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

They add that Congress "should not be cutting the lifelines that millions of Americans have paid for and depend on, particularly during tough economic times. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security cuts should be off the table in any debt reduction discussions. It is unconscionable to sacrifice these programs to pay for more corporate greed."

That's in very sharp contrast to the solution put forward by a top Republican, Rep. Denny Rehberg of Montana, chairman of the House Appropriations Labor-Health and Human Services subcommittee, who is "proposing cutting the law’s Medicaid expansion and subsidies to help consumers buy insurance."

Together, he said, the proposals would likely raise enough to cover the supercommittee's $1.2 trillion target. "Eliminating these new programs is the quickest, clearest and most common sense path to meeting the committee’s goal," Rehberg wrote in a letter to the supercommittee. He argues that the programs haven't been implemented yet, so no benefits would be "taken away."[...] Rehberg said now is not the time to expand Medicaid and create a new entitlement of tax subsidies. He likened the provisions to an "expensive vacation home" that the average American wouldn’t buy if it was facing the nation’s deficit problems.

Because having health insurance is exactly like having an expensive vacation home.

It's more about a backdoor effort to kill the Affordable Care Act than dealing with the deficit, since Rehburg doesn't actually care about the deficit any more than any other all-tax-cuts all-the-time Republicans. But these two competing letters tell you all you need to know about progressive Democrats versus Republicans.