–Key Congressional Panel Shifts From Public Hearings To Private Talks
–Regular Hill Panels Charged To Submit Deficit Cutting Ideas By Oct 14
–Super Committee Members Say They Need Deal By Early November

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – While it remains unclear if Congress’s Joint
Select Committee on Deficit Reduction will “Go Big” and “Go Long” as a
prominent Washington think tank is urging, it already has “Gone Quiet”
and “Gone Private” in its deliberations.

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is charged to
submit a report to Congress by Nov. 23, 2011 that reduces the deficit by
$1.5 trillion between 2012 and 2021.

The final package, if one is agreed to by the majority of the
panel’s 12 members, must be voted on without amendment by the House and
Senate by Dec. 23, 2011.

If the panel fails to agree on a spending cut package or Congress
rejects its plan, a budget enforcement trigger would secure $1.2
trillion in budget savings through across-the-board cuts.

The cuts would be equally divided between defense and non-defense
programs but would exempt Social Security, Medicaid and low-income
programs.

In various policy papers, the Committee For a Responsible Federal
Budget has urged Congress’s deficit reduction panel to craft a 10-year
deficit reduction plan of at least $4 trillion (Go Big) and to achieve
that deficit reduction goal by structural changes to tax and entitlement
programs (Go Long).

While it remains unclear if the deficit reduction committee is
moving in this direction, it is very clear the panel has decided that
the public hearings portion of its work should end and intense private
negotiations must begin.

The panel has held three public hearings: its organizational
meeting on Sept. 8, a budget overview hearing on Sept. 13 with
Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf and a revenue
overview on Sept. 22 with Thomas Barthold, the chief of staff of
Congress’s Joint Tax Committee.

But in the last several weeks, the 12 person panel has been meeting
several times a week in often lengthy private sessions. Members have
left those sessions tight-lipped, saying virtually nothing that might
provide even a hint about where the panel is headed.

Several of the Republican members of the panel have told allies in
the lobbying community that any budget accord is more likely to be for
around $1.5 trillion in budget savings than a larger package that some
seek.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said at a briefing this week that
the deficit panel should focus on reaching its $1.5 trillion deficit
cutting goal.

Several panel members have indicated that whatever package they
ultimately craft needs to be completed by early November so it can be
scored by the Congressional Budget Office.

The congressional deficit reduction panel is set to receive by next
Friday deficit cutting ideas from Congress’s regular committees on how
to achieve savings in the policy areas within their jurisdictions.

However, it appears increasingly likely that rather than each
committee offering bipartisan savings recommendations, the Democratic
and Republican lawmakers of each panel will submit separate reports.

Bob Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, said he
believes the deficit reduction panel’s retreat to private talks can be
productive, but also poses some risks.

“I’m not bothered by the private meetings. This may very well be
the sensible way to put together a deal,” says Bixby.

“But I think that once the members of the Super Committee have some
idea of where they are going, they need to find a way to get their ideas
out into the public. There is a real risk in springing a big package on
the public at the last minute after private negotiations. The public
thinks something like that was done recently. It was called TARP and
people are still angry about it,” Bixby said.

Bixby said he’s hopeful the deficit reduction panel will come up
with a package, but he’s not certain of its size and scope.

“I’m not particularly hopeful they will do the Grand Bargain that
is needed, but it’s important they make some progress. They need to do
something. This is a powerful committee with wide powers. I hope they
use them,” he added.

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

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