The House Budget Committee held a hearing Tuesday to discuss and debate the pros and cons of several proposals to create a bipartisan fiscal commission to address the national debt and federal deficits. The hearing follows a similar one held last month as backers of a bipartisan, bicameral commission look to build momentum for the idea.
Republicans and budget watchdog groups have embraced the creation of a panel that would be empowered to come up with steps to put the nation on a more sustainable fiscal path. Some Democrats support the idea, arguing that the need is dire and that Congress has thus far failed to act, while others in the party have expressed concerns that any such panel would be used to slash Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs while providing politicians cover to avoid taking responsibility for those cuts.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, a Texas Republican, said Wednesday that he believes that debt and deficits are “the most significant challenge facing our nation in the 21st century,” threatening both the U.S. economy and national security.
“I believe this is our generation’s World War and the cost of losing this war will be catastrophic and irreparable,” he said, adding, “I don’t think a fiscal commission is the panacea for all of our financial woes. I just don’t think that there’s a silver bullet. At the end of the day, we have to have the political courage as a body to cut through the brinkmanship, the weaponization, the fearmongering that we get from the outside and the inside, and we have to hold hands, as they say, and move forward with courage.”
Still, Arrington said, a bipartisan commission may be able to provide constructive dialog that leads to some consensus on a more sustainable path.
Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the budget panel, expressed skepticism that a commission would work and pointed to a history of failures for similar bodies in the recent past. Boyle also noted that some Republican presidential candidates, including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, have talked about raising the retirement age. “That's a little like saying, We need to burn the village in order to save it. It just isn't true,” Boyle said.
Boyle also reiterated his view that raising revenue should be the solution to avoiding future Social Security and Medicare benefit cuts. “You can have the greatest, biggest blue ribbon possible and put that on a commission. That won't be a substitute for the fact that ultimately, individuals will have to put up a vote, either saying yes, this is how we're going to raise more revenue, or yes, this is how we're going to enact cuts,” he said. “I'm very clear the side that I come on.”