Free Republic

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Tuesday he's naming Sen. Patty Murray to co-chair a powerful "super committee" charged with finding more than $1 trillion in deficit cuts this fall. Murray will be joined by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Max Baucus, D-Mont., on the panel, which was established last week by hard-fought legislation to increase the national debt. Murray, who is chairwoman of the committee to elect Democratic senators, is a longtime protector of Democratic priorities such as Medicare, Social Security and veterans' benefits, as are Kerry and Baucus. Reid, D-Nev., said in a statement that Murray has "a...

Last February President Obama called for a Deficit Reduction Commission to come up with a plan to reduce the deficit and balance the budget. Since that is Congress’s job, I felt Obama’s call for such a panel to come up with a way to reduce the very problem he worsened by historic measures was laughable, but maybe I was being too critical. An 18-member panel was summoned to take on the monumental task of solving the single-most problem that faces our nation today. The December 1st deadline is fast approaching and a draft report has been made public detailing the...

After a year of binge spending, President Obama took the sobriety pledge yesterday -- and created a commission to figure out how to get the government to balance its checkbook. "These are tough times and we cannot be spending like they are not," Obama said as he named a bipartisan panel that could recommend new taxes and drastic program cuts. But critics ridiculed the president's vow to close the barn door that he opened wide last year. "It's a very convenient excuse for doing nothing," Andrew Moyland, of the National Taxpayers Union, said of the commission.