September 8 marked the inaugural meeting of the new congressional “super committee” charged with identifying $1.5 trillion in potential spending cuts within the federal budget deficit. The committee, a panel of 12 members of Congress officially titled the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, exists as a result of the August debt ceiling deal, which raised the federal borrowing limit.
Composed of 6 Republicans and 6 Democrats, the committee is split evenly between both chambers of Congress. On the Republican side are Sens. John Kyl of Arizona, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Rob Portman of Ohio, and Reps. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Fred Upton of Michigan, and Dave Camp of Michigan.
The Democratic delegation includes Sens. Patty Murray of Washington, John Kerry of Massachusetts, Max Baucus of Montana, and Reps. James Clyburn of South Carolina, Xavier Becerra of California, and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a nonpartisan federal agency, recently revised its budget deficit projection for 2011 to $1.3 trillion to reflect spending cuts enacted during the debt deal. Prior to the spending cuts, the CBO predicted a deficit of roughly $1.5 trillion.
The nearly $15 trillion federal debt will stand at 70 percent of the GDP by the end of 2011, the highest in US history since World War II.
The committee must outline a minimum of $1.5 trillion in cuts before Thanksgiving, or else $1.2 trillion will automatically be slashed, evenly affecting defense and discretionary domestic spending. Furthermore, Congress must pass the plan on an up or down vote, meaning no amendments will be allowed.
The super committee’s work is complicated by the debate over President Obama’s proposed federal spending on infrastructural projects and payroll tax cuts intended to encourage private-sector hiring. The president’s proposal, entitled the American Jobs Act, totals nearly $450 billion, which is over half the size of the stimulus package enacted in early 2009.
Last week, the president proposed his own plan to reduce the debt and deficit in the long term, indicating that the committee should cut at least $2 trillion rather than the required $1.5 trillion.
During the unveiling of the jobs bill, Obama stated, “There should be nothing controversial about this piece of legislation. Everything in here is the kind of proposal that’s been supported by both Democrats and Republicans.”
Jeb Hensarling, Texas Republican and co-chair of the committee, contradicted this claim. According to Hensarling, Obama’s jobs plan would “make the already arduous challenge of finding bipartisan agreement on deficit reduction nearly impossible.”
David Campbell, political science professor and director of the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy, hopes the recommendations will motivate debt and deficit reform.
Nevertheless, he says the current political atmosphere will likely discourage bold steps. “It may take the presidential election of 2012—which is likely to be a referendum on economic policy—to bring about any serious budgetary reform,” he said.
Sean Woods is a sophomore business and politics major. Contact him at swoods2@nd.edu.
