Obama Launches His Fiscal Commission; Republicans Call It A Front for Tax Hikes
As President Obama formally launched his deficit-reduction task force on Tuesday, Republican leaders said it will simply provide Democrats with the cover they need to raise taxes.
By Susan Jones CNSNews.com
As President Obama formally launched his deficit-reduction task force on Tuesday, Republican leaders said it will simply provide Democrats with the cover they need to raise taxes.
The bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is co-chaired by former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, a Democrat, and former Republican Senate Whip Alan Simpson.
The panel is examining ways to cut costs and boost revenues to produce a maximum deficit of $550 billion by 2015, an amount equal to about 3 percent of the total U.S. economy. That would require deficit savings of at least $250 billion, the Associated Press reported.
The commission will hold its first meeting on Tuesday, and President Obama said there are no restrictions on its recommendations: “Everything has to be on the table,” Obama said on Tuesday. That means tax hikes and entitlement cuts are possible.
President Obama told a gathering in the White House Rose Garden he will not take questions on what he will rule in or rule out: “So I want to deliver this message today: We’re not playing that game. We’re not going to say what’s in; I’m not going to say what’s out. I want this commission to be free to do its work.”
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