Many policy ideas are being thrown around as the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, created by President Obama last February, continues meetings to discuss the balancing of the ever-growing budget deficit. One idea is to give tax breaks, which is very popular to the public, but would cost the government $1 trillion per year. Other recommendations include, cuts in defense spending and freezing domestic discretionary spending. It is unlikely that the panel will suggest changes to Medicaid and Medicare, but Social Security reform is still a main focus. In order to balance the budget by 2015, the government would need to find an estimated $240 billion in annual savings. Commission officers are still in negotiations about proposals to fixing the deficit, debt and financial disaster that faces the United States and might not reach an agreement among panel members by the December 1st deadline. Nothing has been voted on regarding policy changes, so it is too early to say what action the NCFRR will take to combat damage to the country’s long-term fiscal condition. As of last fiscal year, the budget deficit was at its second highest in 60 years ($1.3 trillion). Right now, the commission is our country’s best hope in turning around the state of the economy.
The point of having such a commission is so that members of Congress can have political cover when voting to make unpopular but necessary decisions to reduce the deficit; they can say they were simply fulfilling the recommendations of the panel. I am pessimistic that enough members of Congress will support most of the panel's recommendations; they are too scared of voting for policies that would reduce the deficit yet decrease spending - and jobs - in their home states.
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