Statement on President Obama’s Consideration of Bipartisan Commission as a Solution to Nation’s Fiscal Challenges
“We are pleased to read in today’s Wall Street Journal that the Obama Administration is giving serious consideration to establishing a special commission to addressing our nation’s large and growing structural deficits and debt burdens. Employing such an extraordinary approach that engages the American people with the truth and the tough choices and will make a range of social insurance, other spending and tax-related recommendations for action by the Congress is essential.
“Based on recent public opinion polls commissioned by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, an overwhelming majority of the American people support the need for a special commission. Our foundation will release the results of our latest public opinion survey on Monday, November 30.
“America’s debt and deficit crises deepen with each passing day. A properly structured bipartisan commission would engage the American people about the true financial condition of our country and the need for a range of comprehensive reforms. This commission can lay the groundwork for the ‘grand bargain’ President Obama has said he wants to achieve during his presidency.”
About PGPF
PGPF is dedicated to increasing public awareness of the nature and urgency of key economic challenges threatening America’s future and to accelerating action on them. To address these challenges successfully, we work to bring Americans together to find sensible, long-term solutions that transcend age, party lines and ideological divides in order to achieve real results. For more information, see www.PGPF.org.
Further Reading
The Federal Government Has Borrowed Trillions. Who Owns All that Debt?
Most federal debt is owed to domestic holders, but foreign ownership is much higher now than it was about 50 years ago.
No Tax on Social Security Would Weaken Both Social Security and Medicare
Republicans in Congress are considering several new tax cuts that would reduce federal revenues by trillions of dollars over the next decade.
The United States Spends More on Defense than the Next 9 Countries Combined
Defense spending by the United States accounted for nearly 40 percent of military expenditures by countries around the world in 2023.