And we all know who the commission members will be: a group of "bipartisan" former congressmen, senators, and executive officials (is Alan Simpson or Tom Kean Sr. available?) who will recommend gimmicks and tax increases.
And of course it mandates an up or down vote on the recommendations.
Here's an idea! Instead, how about the CURRENT legislators (congressmen and senators, who we pay to do these things), form a COMMITTEE to "tackle" the national debt.
Oh, no! We can't do that! That takes serious thought and effort, and we don't have the time - we only work 12-2 two days a week and have reelection fundraisers to attend.
So we'll just delegate to a bunch of people who AREN'T accountable - pass the buck and pretend we did something.
Oh, and it only took him five years to come up with this old idea.
Mittens brings nothing to the table in order to get nothing done. Sounds right.
For fighting waste and fraud nothing works more than expensive establishment types sitting around jawboning over nothing that will be implemented. Just another scam.
Tax increases for whites no doubt will be their solution.
Borrow money to pay off the debt.
A commission designed to spend more money. Hey Mitt how about signing legislation that has cut in current spending with additional reductions each year after that. With those reductions going to pay off principal on the outstanding loans that have accumulated.
It’s all very simple. SPEND LzESS MONEY
Todd Young is one of a handful of Republican senators who has voted for every monster spending bill over the last 4 years. This is his attempt at a fig leaf.
Reminds me of the Paperwork Reduction Act.
Just created more paperwork and federal employees.
Doesn’t the bill specifically exclude Social Security from the list of programs that can be considered for cuts?
A commission that does nothing but two martini lunches.
Mitt we KNOW what the problem is ... politicians spending too much money and giving away entitlements like candy to children.
No commission needed.
Stop spending money you don’t have (on commissions you don’t need). Spend less than you do. Use left over to pay down debt.
The current $34 trillion in national debt will be over $45 trillion in 4 years at our current rate of debt increase.
Our payments on the interest of that debt is currently $700 billion with interest rates increases taking that to over $3 trillion within 4 years. Debt payments are a few years behind interest rate increases as the bonds are purchased at the higher interest rates then mature a few years later.
Our national income is around $4.5 trillion. We spend that and take on more debt every year. This year the additional debt is over $2 trillion.
We are broke as a nation. We are paying more out than we
take in, and just the additional debt is to exceed our revenues within two years. Our interest payments will consume all of our revenues within 6 years.
Nothing at this time can change this except massive cuts in spending.
Medicare/Medicaid spending is $1.5 trillion.
Social Security is $1.4 trillion.
Defense is $800 billion.
Debt interest payment is $700 billion.
We are a socialized nation, doomed to financial failure.
Offered as solutions, the left always wants to make government bigger, more inefficient and hungrier (for our money). Not until it consumes all productivity will people realize it’s a slippery slope that eventually destroys the standard of living and prosperity. But by then, the authoritarian government has taken total control and can’t be reined in.
Let’s study the problem and in a few years issue a thousand-page report. In the meantime we have to keep printing money. We have no choice.
Thanks, Mittens, for your incisive leadership.
Perhaps Poonia is new to this country and doesn't yet comprehend that adding nothing to nothing equals nothing.
Well, if a commission is set up, we ought to see some results in thirty or forty years.
I have a better plan.
Lets create a Commission to study the feasibility of creating a Commission to study the feasibility of creating a Commission to study the feasibility of creating a Commission.
This is something every true policy wonk can support.
;-)
Summary
Congressional advisory commissions are formal groups established to provide independent
advice; make recommendations for changes in public policy; study or investigate a particular
problem, issue, or event; or perform a duty. While no legal definition exists for what constitutes a
“congressional commission,” in this report a congressional commission is defined as a multimember independent entity that (1) is established by Congress, (2) exists temporarily, (3) serves
in an advisory capacity, (4) is appointed in part or whole by Members of Congress, and
(5) reports to Congress. These five characteristics differentiate a congressional commission from
a presidential commission, an executive branch commission, or other bodies with “commission”
in their names. Over 100 congressional commissions have been established since 1989.
************************************************************
The most infamous of all US Commissions was LBJ’s Warren Commission which was established to polish up a BIG LIE to the American People that would protect the actual killers.