–Two Budget Groups Urge Obama To Use Coming Budget To Attack Deficits
–Key Budget Group Says Obama Should Use State of Union To Prepare US
–Concord Coalition Chides GOP For Focusing On Only Part of Problem

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Even before President Obama delivers his State
of the Union address Tuesday night, two leading budget groups are urging
him to use his coming fiscal year 2012 budget to begin the much awaited
“pivot” to policies that begin to tackle the nation’s worsening fiscal
situation.

Obama will speak to a joint session of Congress at 9 p.m. EST.

Before his speech, the House will vote on a resolution that calls
on the House Budget Committee chairman to present a plan that would
bring the rest of 2011 fiscal year spending for non-defense
discretionary programs down to FY’08 levels.

The resolution is set to be approved on a party line vote.

In a policy paper this week, the Committee for a Responsible
Federal Budget urged Obama to “focus on preparing the country for the
need for a comprehensive fiscal consolidation package” in his speech
tonight.

The president should follow up his State of the Union address with
a new budget on February 14 that places the nation on a “more
sustainable fiscal path,” the budget group said.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget urges Obama to
embrace the recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles report as a “starting
point.”

“The Simpson-Bowles Commission demonstrated what a number of those
compromises might include, and the White House should use the plan as
the basis for a bipartisan proposal of its own,” the budget group said.

The budget watchdog group said that while there is never an ideal
time to pass a deficit reduction package, “the country is running out of
time to begin addressing its unsustainable fiscal path on its own
terms.”

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said that a credible
fiscal program is a “necessary component of a sustained recovery,”
adding that “the weak economy is no longer an acceptable excuse to delay
passing a plan.”

In its regular budget report, the Concord Coalition, another fiscal
watchdog group, urged Obama to heed the suggestions of Alice Rivlin and
Christina Romer who, in recent comments, urged the president to offer a
comprehensive plan to deal with long-term budget deficits.

Rivlin, in a Sunday essay in the New York Times, called on Obama to
push for “immediate action on a multi-year deficit reduction plan.”

The Concord Coalition’s budget report noted various deficit
reduction ideas that Republicans are advancing, but said that plans that
“rely primarily on discretionary spending for savings” are not adequate.

“Costly items such as tax breaks, defense, Social Security and
Medicare should also be scrutinized,” the Concord Coalition’s budget
report says.

“Even eliminating all discretionary spending would account for less
than 40% of the budget–less than 20% if defense is excluded,” it adds.

The Congressional Budget Office will release its new ten year
budget and economic report Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. EST.

This CBO report will provide updated economic growth estimates as
well as budget deficit projections for the next decade.

Obama’s fiscal goals will be outlined on Feb. 14 when he releases
his fiscal year 2012 budget, which will also have multi-year deficit and
economic projections.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

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