The bipartisan debt committee created to find ways to reduce the national debt is expected to announce that it will not meet its goal by its Nov. 23 deadline. While details have not yet been released, many believe that the lawmakers simply have not been able to come to an agreement on enough hard-hitting issues to reduce national debt as intended.
Debt Committee Falls Short in Making $1.2 Trillion in Reductions
As early as Monday, the congressional debt committee, which consists of 6 Democrats and 6 Republicans, is expected to admit that it may not be able to agree on a national debt plan in time to meet its pre-Thanksgiving deadline.
Even if it is able to come up with solutions before the date, debt committee members aren’t likely to agree on enough cuts to add up to the $1.2 trillion in reductions required to stave off an automatic “sequester” of spending cuts across much of the federal budget starting in 2013.
While the committee has a couple of more days to get the job done, some say the likelihood of a resolution occurring within the short time frame is slim to none.
Difficulties of Developing a National Debt Plan
In August of this year, shortly after the nation nearly experienced its first sovereign debt default, lawmakers decided that, in addition to raising the government’s borrowing limit by $2.4 trillion and cutting federal spending by $917 billion, they needed to find a way to reduce the national debt by at least $1.2 trillion to avoid the threat of default in the future.
While the debt committee has been able to agree on a few issues, it can’t seem to agree on taxes. Democrats believe that raising tax revenue while making spending cuts and some adjustments to social entitlement programs is best, while Republicans are against tax increases, preferring to only make adjustments to the entitlement programs.
If they fail to agree on a plan by the deadline, both defense and non-defense spending cuts will automatically be made in 2013. While Social Security and Medicaid would not be touched, limited cuts to Medicare would be made.
