Murray: Budget deal may mean pain

WASHINGTON — Democrats are ready to “accept some pain” to compromise on a bipartisan budget deal, Sen. Patty Murray told a crowd of about 200 today. It is vital to extend the taxcuts on middle class and the poor, the Washington Democrat said. Describing the support her family got from the government while she was growing up, Murray called for the Republican leadership to come up with a deal before the end of the year that includes both program cuts and more revenue for the federal government. The so-called fiscal cliff of mandatory budget cuts and tax increases could cost millions of jobs, cause a new recession and should be avoided, she told the crowd at the Brookings Institution.