Bipartisan Fiscal Commission Proposal Gets a Nod from House Budget Committee - semafor.com
House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-TX) recently emphasized the importance of moving ahead with legislation to create a bipartisan fiscal commission to address long-term federal deficit reduction, citing the need to focus on all aspects of the country’s finances in order to stabilize debt and put Social Security and Medicare on a sustainable footing.
In a post yesterday on semafor.com, political reporter Kadia Goba offers a quote from the Budget Chair summarizing his perspective on the issue: “The last time there was a fix to Social Security that addressed the solvency for 75 years, it was Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill, and it was bipartisan. It had revenue measures and it had program reforms. That’s just the reality. The commission, Arrington suggests, would be charged with “crafting a plan to stabilize the federal debt as a share of the economy and keep the Medicare and Social Security trust funds solvent for the next 75 years.”
Although the bipartisan, bicameral movement is seen by some as critical to improving the long-term fiscal condition of the federal government, there is opposition, particularly concerning issues relating to tax policy and spending cuts. In support of the commission approach, Arrington argues that a bipartisan solution will be driven by external pressure, namely the rapidly approaching depletion of Social Security and Medicare reserve funding.
Read the full semafor.com post here.