Super Committee on Debt Reduction is Forming
Committee has just over three months to cut $1.5 trillion.
Compiled by staff
Published: Aug 11, 2011
Congressional leaders were given until Aug. 16 to name 12 members to the Super Committee charged with reducing the national deficit. As of Wednesday afternoon nine of those members have been named. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has named Senators Patty Murray, D-Wash., Max Baucus, D-Mont., and John Kerry, D-Mass. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has selected Senators Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., Rob Portman, R-Ohio and Pat Toomey, R-Pa. The three Republican House members selected by Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio are Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, Dave Camp, R-Mich., and Fred Upton, R-Mich. Of these nine members, only Toomey opposed the debt-ceiling deal agreed to last week.
Reid says his selections were made because the Senators have expertise in budget matters, a commitment to a balanced approach and a track record of forging bipartisan consensus. Murray, who will serve as Co-Chair of the committee with Hensarling, is next in line for Budget Committee Chairman. Baucus chairs the Finance Committee while also serving on the Agriculture Committee. On the House side, Boehner selected the Chairmen of the House Republican Conference (Hensarling), Ways and Means Committee (Camp) and Energy and Commerce Committee (Upton). Boehner says these lawmakers are proven leaders who have earned the trust and confidence of their colleagues and constituents. As for McConnell's picks, Portman is a former director of the White House Office of Management and Budget and has served as U.S. Trade Representative. Toomey is a former Wall Street Executive. McConnell says he selected serious, constructive senators interested in achieving a result that helps get the nation's fiscal house in order.
The three Democrat senators joined together in a call for the committee to set aside the red hot partisanship that has characterized the last few months of debt talks and to look for serious-minded ways to reduce the deficit in a balanced, pragmatic and practical way. They say the challenge is to find common ground without damaging anyone's principles and they believe they can get there.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., still must make her three appointments to the Committee. Committee members will have until Nov. 23 to figure out a plan to cut $1.2 to $1.5 trillion from the deficit.
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