Commission Charged With Controlling Federal Deficit
President Obama plans to appoint a bipartisan commission to cut the national debt in the face of an alarming fiscal outlook that has been deteriorating for decades. The commission is likely to recommend deep spending cuts and tax increases. Republicans are resisting the commission, insisting that they will not raise taxes.
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You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer, in for Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
The federal government is on track to run up the largest deficit in history this fiscal year, according to the latest numbers from the Treasury Department. President Obama plans to sign an executive order today, creating an independent commission to come up with solutions to the problem. But he's not likely to get much help from Republicans, who say the commission is just political cover for raising taxes.
NPR's Andrea Seabrook has more.
ANDREA SEABROOK: Home foreclosures, economic stimulus, even health care - those now seem like last year's issues. And the Obama administration is pivoting away from them toward the new biggies - jobs and the debt.
President BARACK OBAMA: Sometimes, particularly in tough times like these, you have to make hard choices about where to spend and where to save. That's what being responsible means. It's a bedrock value of our country. And that ought to be a value that our government lives up to, as well.
SEABROOK: President Obama's radio address last weekend. In it he foreshadowed today's news.
Pres. OBAMA: I've proposed a bipartisan fiscal commission to provide recommendations for long-term deficit reduction. Because in the end, solving our fiscal challenge, so many years in the making, will take both parties coming together, putting politics aside and making some hard choices about what we need to spend and what we don't. It will not happen any other way.
SEABROOK: Today, the president plans to sign an executive order creating the commission and will announce its co-chairs - Democrat Erskine Bowles, the White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, and Alan Simpson, the former Senate Republican Whip - sounds workable, right?
Well, remember, Mr. Obama tried to get Congress to create this commission itself, but it failed in the Senate, in part because seven Republicans who'd originally sponsored the idea, voted against it. Why? They smelt something funny in the proposal - the possibility of tax increases, and they want nothing to do with that. Now, creating the commission by executive order doesn't solve the problem of how to get fiscal conservatives to join the effort.
Outside Washington yesterday, a group of conservative luminaries met on the grounds of Mount Vernon, the home of President George Washington. There they held a ceremony led by Ed Meese, attorney general under President Ronald Reagan.
Mr. EDWIN MEESE (Former Attorney General): And that is why we're here - to recommit ourselves to the ideals and principles that have made America a just, prosperous and free nation, like no other nation in the world.
SEABROOK: Conservatives were there to sign what they dubbed the Mount Vernon Statement, a pledge to return to what conservatives believe are the fundamental underpinnings of American society, all strictly laid out in the Constitution.
Mr. MEESE: The Mount Vernon Statement we're about to sign honors, quote, the central place of individual liberty in American politics and life, and calls for the application of the principle of limited government to every proposal of our elected representatives.
SEABROOK: One of the keys to America's success, conservatives say, is keeping the government small - spend less. So you might think they'd be interested in the commission to rein in the debt.
Mr. BRENT BOZELL (President, Media Research Center): It's goofy. It's all showmanship.
SEABROOK: Brent Bozell is president of the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog.
Mr. BOZELL: It's all showmanship on their part, to have this commission. If you want to reduce the debt, reduce the debt. Why have a commission? Why have this silliness?
SEABROOK: Conservatives here are also worried that the commission will recommend higher taxes when what they want is to dramatically cut government spending, and they're not terribly interested in compromising on anything right now. But David Keene of the American Conservative Union says not participating in the commission could be risky.
Mr. DAVID KEENE (Chairman, American Conservative Union): The political risk is, will people outside say, well, gee, you know, you're not a part of it, so aren't you concerned? But I think that given the structure of what they're doing, it's entirely appropriate not to be involved.
SEABROOK: Still, Keene says, Republicans will have to show that they too have ideas for how to deal with the deficits and the debt if they want to go from a loud minority to a majority that governs responsibly.
Andrea Seabrook, NPR News, Northern Virginia.
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