Their plan, which also addresses entitlement spending, would generate at least $300 billion in new tax revenue over the next decade by overhauling the tax code to lower rates but also eliminate deductions and loopholes. “We’ve not had a conversation like this within the party in two decades,” said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (N.C.), who on Wednesday gathered signatures from about 70 House Republican colleagues for a letter to the supercommittee leadership, calling any tax increase “irresponsible and dangerous to the health of the United States.” 
 
 Describing Hensarling as a “mentor,” McHenry added: “It’s a very tough situation.” 
 
 The conservative group Americans for Prosperity, which has fought taxes, began a campaign targeting 40 House Republicans who have expressed an openness to new taxes. That proposal came from the six Republican members, House and Senate.” 
 
 While Democrats have made proposals, he noted that the party’s supercommittee members have never coalesced around a plan. “It’s about whether the president and the Congress can competently govern, about whether we can face up to the biggest problem facing our country and, working together, can we solve that problem?” He added that both parties “need to put more on the table and get a result.” 
 
 As of Wednesday, the fate of the proposal backed by GOP supercommittee members was uncertain. “There are some who think or have suggested that the oath to Mr. Norquist is more important than other oaths that members take,” said Pelosi, who noted automatic cuts to defense spending would be triggered without a supercommittee deal. “Don’t suggest that we haven’t been involved,” Boehner told reporters Thursday at a news conference, noting the amount of discussion he’d had over the last two months with supercommittee members.
– The proposal that super committee Republicans put forth to raise about $300 billion in new tax revenues may not have been enough to win over Democrats, but it’s been more than enough to stir up dissension in the GOP ranks, with anti-tax hardliners suddenly at odds with long-time compatriots Pat Toomey and Jeb Hensarling, the Washington Post reports. Rep. Patrick McHenry, who considers Hensarling his “mentor,” yesterday got 70 House Republicans to sign off on a letter declaring any tax increase “irresponsible and dangerous.” “We’ve not had a conversation like this within the party in two decades,” McHenry says. The conservative group Americans for Prosperity, meanwhile, has been pressuring the 40 House Republicans who have expressed openness to tax cuts, urging constituents to call them, and purchasing radio ads in five states. But other Republicans are pushing their party to compromise. “This is about more than the money,” said Lamar Alexander. “It’s about whether the president and the Congress can competently govern.” (Meanwhile, the panel's deadline gets closer with no deal in sight, notes the Hill.)