Posted on 01/16/2024 4:05:44 PM PST by Deadeye Division
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bipartisan legislation to create a commission charged with taming the $34 trillion U.S. national debt is set to advance this week in a House of Representatives panel, as lawmakers battle over federal spending.
The House Budget Committee on Tuesday said it will hold a work session at 10 a.m. (1500 GMT) on Thursday to debate and potentially vote on the "Fiscal Commission Act of 2023," just weeks after Washington's total public debt breached the $34 trillion mark, putting it at more than 122% of GDP.
Backers of the bill hope it could help make the national debt a topic of greater discussion during the 2024 presidential campaign.
"While a debt commission is not a panacea to fix all our financial problems, it can offer a productive, de-politicized forum for educating the public and identifying consensus solutions for addressing our growing deficits and long-term unfunded liabilities," Republican House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington said in a statement to Reuters.
The move follows Moody's decision in mid-November to lower its outlook on the U.S. credit rating to "negative" from "stable," citing "political polarization in Congress" over ways to address the debt and the costs of financing it.
Similar bipartisan legislation was introduced late last year by retiring Senators Joe Manchin, a Democrat, and Mitt Romney, a Republican.
While the House and Senate bills have some bipartisan support, there are significant pockets of resistance. Some liberal Democrats argue that such a commission would be a "back-door" way of cutting benefits in the popular Social Security and Medicare retirement and healthcare programs.
Republican Representative Bill Huizenga introduced the legislation in November with bipartisan support. He was joined by Democratic Representative Scott Peters, a member of the Budget Committee.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone and Paul Simao)
How much money will that cost?
At least now we will get a report🙄
Looks as if the GOP wants to create a commission modeled after Simpson-Bowles.
Oh goody. A commission. I’m excited. And hopeful. Not.
SHUT. OFF. THE. DXMN. MONEY. You don’t need no stinkin’ commission to do that! “Power of the purse”, idiots! The Constitution, idiots!
Dumb and dumber.
Send the illegals back where they came from and cut off benefits for non citizens, cancel the unbelievably stupid and ruinously expensive Green New Deal and start drilling for oil here in the US.
Balanced budget within 4 years, debt paid off, problem solved.
Just need the right president.
Forgive me Jimbo for this post. What BULLSHIT!! Stop spending money!!!!! Why is that so hard to understand for you f’king idiots? STOP BASELINE Budgeting, reduce eververy federal agency by 10% every year, abolish worthless agencies such as the Education Dept, Commerce Department and on and on. The Legal Services Corporation was going to be abolished but sued congress to reinstate funding and won!!!! You gutless Uniparty bastards are the problem. STOP SPENDING OUR F”KING TAX MONEY!!!!
there’s already a legal body that’s does this...its called CONGRESS!
Ohhh. A commission. Yeah, those always produce decisive policies.
A freakin’ commission.
Cue the facepalm meme.
Speaker Mike Johnson used his very first speech after claiming the gavel to call for the “immediate” creation of such a commission. His top lieutenants have publicly floated attaching it to must-pass government funding bills moving through Congress this month, forcing Democrats to accept Social Security cuts if they want to keep the government open.
How many commissions would that make it? I can recall at least 5 commissions on reducing the debt. These people have no intention at all on reducing spending. Bastards all of them.
And after the Commision blows through a few million bucks, they can issue a 1000 word report and close the whole effort out with a strongly worded letter to Congress suggesting a 1% tax cut to next Year's planned increase in Veteran's benefits.
Then they can get back to adding a few Trillion more to the U.S. Debt load and a whole slew of new taxes.
The solution is simple, stop spending what you don’t have. What’s lacking is the will to do so.
I guess they consider our earned benefits political pawns.
I have an idea: Abolish every department that isn’t authorized in the Constitution.
Yeah, it’ll get a lot of people riled up ... even on this forum ... Americans are addicted to Big Government. So what? It’s the only way to get the debt under control.
Is a vote for a fiscal commission a vote to cut Social Security and Medicare?
BOHICA
they will recommend raising taxes, limiting SS to lower incomes, and raising premiums for Medicare.
They really do think we are stupid and they aren't wrong because we keep sending them back for more of this genius representation.
If you want to get Fedzilla under control, you need to get Fedzilla out of the old-age/disability pension business.
If you’re not willing to do that, you can’t be taken seriously.
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