–Next 2 Years ‘Critical;’ Will Work to Get US on ‘Sound Fiscal Course’
By John Shaw
WASHINGTON (MNI) – Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad
said Tuesday he will not run for re-election in 2012, declaring that he
wants to spend the next two years focusing on fixing American fiscal
policy.
In a statement, the North Dakota Democrat said the next two years
will be “critical” to overhauling American fiscal policy. He is
determined to work, he said, to “get our country on a sound fiscal
course.”
Conrad was first elected to the Senate in 1986 and has been the top
Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee for a decade.
Many analysts interpreted Conrad’s decision to support the $4
trillion deficit reduction plan drafted by the presidential commission
on deficit reduction chaired by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson as an
indication he was not going to run for re-election.
Budget watchers are eager to see what kind of budget plan Conrad
will release later this spring.
Experts say the fiscal plans of President Barack Obama, House
Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan and Conrad will be the key fiscal
events of 2011.
Conard’s state of North Dakota has become even more solidly
Republican in recent years and the GOP seems well positioned to pick up
the seat in 2012.
Democrats now have a 53 to 47 majority in the Senate.
** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **
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