Bipartisan Debt Commission Or Mission Impossible?
In an effort to rein in the ever growing national debt, President Obama signed an executive order last Thursday creating a bipartisan debt commission that will plan a course of action to address and diminish the federal budget deficit to 3% of gross domestic product by 2015. That is in comparison to the current 10% of today. The commission will also be responsible for bringing down growing costs of government programs like, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
After unveiling his two choices that will lead the commission,the President acknowledged that the difficult task awaiting the commission is to attempt “the impossible” adding, “The trajectory is clear, and it is disturbing, but the politics of dealing with chronic deficits is fraught with hard choices, and, therefore, it’s treacherous to officeholders here in Washington. As a consequence, nobody has been too eager to deal with it”.
The President named former Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former Republican Senator Alan Simpson as co-chairman of the commission, both are veterans of bipartisan budget accords. The President is also asking the commission to look at the U.S. tax code and has not ruled out tax increases for the middle class should the commission deem them necessary.
This is obviously not sitting well with Republican leaders who prefer to propagate their myth of being against any tax increases. Congressional Republicans seemed to rule out that option even before the effort gets underway, addressing this issue in a statement, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, both Senate Minority Leaders, urged the panel to focus on “cutting spending not raising taxes”. I think many Americans would agree and most of those who agree would like to have witnessed that during the Bush Administration.
Former President Clinton came into the White House in 1993 with a federal deficit of around $290 billion. In 1999, his administration was sitting atop a $194 billion budget surplus. According to the economic forecasts of the time, staying on the Clinton economic program would have had the nation’s publicly held debt erased by 2015. The Clinton economic program is very similar to the program President Obama is now trying to advance, appropriately adapted for the current economic crisis. Adjusted for inflation, during his eight years in office, President Clinton increased the federal budget by 11% , compared to the eight years under the Bush Administration which increased the federal budget by 104%.
After watching the current healthcare reform debate, one can only hope the debt commission can guide the American public past the lies and manipulation of leaders on both sides and find a common ground that will help the citizens who elected them to their posts.
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