Showtime for US debt 'SuperCommittee'
ipotindonesia.com
WASHINGTON, Sept 8, 2011 (AFP)
A US Congress "SuperCommittee" on Thursday takes up its mission to reduce debt by at least $1.2 trillion over 10 years, facing a tight schedule for success in a poisonous political climate.
The 12-member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, forged in the angry summertime debt-limit fight, has 11 weeks to nail down an elusive compromise to avert draconian automatic cuts to health care and the military.
"Failure is not an option," Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday. "We fully anticipate they will meet their goals. And we'll see whether they can even go beyond that."
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who crafted what has come to be known as the "SuperCommittee," gave the panel a "better than 50-50 chance" of succeeding where the rest of Congress has failed.
In a clever bit of Washington self-awareness, the committee must deliver its recommendations to the Democratic-held Senate and Republican-led House of Representatives by November 23, the eve of the cherished Thanksgiving holiday.
Then the polarized congress has until December 23, just two days before Christmas, to approve the package or trigger the automatic cuts, effectively leveraging lawmakers' attachment to the two hugely popular holidays.
The possible cuts to military and health care programs -- which would take effect in January 2013 -- after the November 2012 elections in which President Barack Obama seeks a new term -- were designed to compel a compromise.
Any deal would require majority approval on the committee, which is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, and would enjoy fast-track consideration by the whole Congress.
The panel was expected to battle over tax hikes on the wealthy and rich corporations, which Republicans oppose, versus cuts to social safety net programs dear to Democrats.
The committee's first formal meeting was set for 10:30 am (1430 GMT), hours before Obama seizes the spotlight by rolling out his new jobs plan to battle 9.1 percent unemployment and bolster his sagging reelection chances.
Obama, eager to allay voter worries about the ballooning US national debt, will also showcase his own deficit-reduction plan "relatively soon," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Wednesday.
Carney insisted that the president was "absolutely committed" to protecting the Medicare and Medicaid health programs and Social Security retirement program while making "tough choices" to stem a tide of red ink.
Obama will lay out "how we go big on deficit reduction and debt reduction" with a "balanced" approach, code for a blend of tax hikes on the rich and cuts to government spending, including the social safety net, Carney said.
The embattled president had sought a roughly $3-$4 trillion "grand bargain" on deficit reduction this summer with Republican House Speaker John Boehner, only to see it collapse in the face of Republican opposition to raising taxes. |
