According to several Democratic aides involved in the talks, Democrats lowered their figure for increased revenue in the package from $1 trillion to $400 billion to match a standing GOP proposal put forward by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania, a member of the deficit committee.
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The Toomey plan included about $250 billion in new tax increases, while the Democratic plan would have all $400 billion in increased revenue come from new taxes through limited tax deductions and closed loopholes, the Democratic aides said.

Also, the Toomey plan called for lowering tax rates across-the-board as part of broader tax reform, but Democrats did not include that in their plan.

In exchange for meeting the GOP revenue figure, Democrats also sought to limit changes to entitlements depended on by senior citizens, the disabled and the poor.