–Committee For Responsible Federal Budget Hosting Another Event Wed
–Think Tank Urges Deficit Panel To Go Beyond $1.5 Trillion Mandate
–Budget Group Says Panel Must Reform Soc Sec, Medicare, Medicaid

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget,
an independent budget watchdog group, continues to urge Congress’s Joint
Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to go far beyond its mandated goal
of $1.5 trillion in budget savings and assemble its own “Grand Bargain”
to overhaul American fiscal policy.

The Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget has released a
steady stream of policy papers to make the case for the congressional
panel to craft a major deficit reduction plan this summer.

It helped organize a letter signed by 50 business leaders and
former government officials that implores the new congressional committee
to embrace a “go big approach that goes well beyond the $1.5 trillion
deficit reduction goal that the committee has been charged with and
includes major reforms of entitlement programs and the tax code.”

The budget group is hosting a “Go Big” event on Capitol Hill
Wednesday afternoon that will include presentations from Erskine Bowles,
the co-chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility,
former White House budget director Alice Rivlin, former Federal Reserve
Board Chairman Alan Greenspan and others.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget outlines its case
for the new congressional panel to develop a bold deficit reduction in
an 18-page policy paper.

The group’s central argument is that a deficit cutting package of
$1.5 trillion is not a enough to put U.S. fiscal policy on a sustainable
path.

“The Super Committee should look at all areas of the budget in
order to identify savings of two to three times as much, with a goal of
stabilizing the debt as a share of the economy and then putting it on a
downward path,” the paper says.

“Any serious fiscal plan must address the long-term drivers of our
growing debt. The Super Committee must enact serious reforms to Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care spending,”
it adds.

The budget group said the congressional panel should also craft a
pro-growth tax reform plan that broadens the tax base and lowers
marginal rates.

The group’s call for a sweeping agenda for the new congressional
panel is not shared by some key leaders in Congress.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has said repeatedly that the
congressional panel should focus on hitting its $1.5 trillion goal,
adding this will be challenging enough.

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, a member of the deficit panel, has
said that neither party is now inclined to enter far-reaching budget
negotiations that would compel it to make major compromises.

Kyl said the focus of the congressional panel should be on narrowly
crafted reforms that will total $1.5 trillion in savings.

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction met for a private
session Tuesday and will hold a public hearing Thursday on revenue
issues.

In its first two public sessions it has become clear that the panel
is divided on whether the focus of deficit reduction efforts should be
on spending cuts or a package that includes both spending cuts and
additional revenues. Republicans prefer the former, Democrats the
latter.

The committee also appears split on the scope of its ambitions,
with some members urging the panel to secure about $4 trillion in budget
savings while others want it to be focus on the panel’s statutory goal
of finding $1.5 trillion in savings.

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.

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

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