President Barack Obama signed off an order that establishes a bipartisan commission designed to bridle unmanageable deficits on Thursday. The action follows the Congressional dismissal of a more dramatic version of the program. Partisan differences have stuck a fork in the road to recovery according to the President who has voiced his concerns regarding the amount of red-ink in Washington of late.
The federal deficit reached a record breaking $1.4 trillion in 2009 and threatens to continue expanding through 2010 with tax collections down due to pay cuts and unemployment. The deficit has spiraled out of control since the start of the recession to the degree that "it will cloud our future and it will saddle every child in America with an intolerable burden," according to the President prior to signing the executive order creating the commission.
The President selected Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson to head the commission, which is expected to generate a strategy for the administration and Congress to reduce the deficit to 3 percent of the gross domestic product, from 2009’s staggering 9.9 percent. The task is particularly daunting considering projections of up to10.6 percent of GDP for the current year.
The 18-member panel which will consists of Bowles, Simpson, four other Presidentially appointed officers and six selections from the Republicans and Democrats, will commence work once appointments are completed. Recommendations will demand consent of 14 out of the 18 members, to insure bipartisan approval.
Whether the panel will be sufficient in curbing the deficit remains to be seen. Certainly, the President had more dramatic measures in mind when he first pursued the idea of the executive commission. Ideally, the panel would have been established by Congress rather than unilaterally and would require lawmakers to consider the necessity of politically unpopular measures such as cutting Social Security and Medicare. The initial panel was rejected by Senate both by members of both parties, including those who were originally in favor of the idea. The current commission will not have the clout to demand Congress pursue its blue prints for deficit reduction, causing some to question its effectiveness in curbing spending.
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