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Deficit-busting campaign hits the Hill
A new initiative pushing policymakers to break free of politics in pursuit of a broad deficit-reduction deal took to Capitol Hill Wednesday.
The Campaign to Fix the Debt has garnered headlines and raised millions in its effort to push a broad deal that raises revenue and tackles spending. Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, co-authors of a broad deficit-reduction plan, co-founded the group earlier this year. And the effort has found significant support among major business executives from some of the nation's largest companies eager for a deal tackling the deficit.
"This nation is one grand bargain away form leading the world out of its recession and dominating the world's economy for the next 50 years," said Mark Bertolini, CEO and president of Aetna. "The bad news, we're running out of time."
However, the campaign is refusing to pick sides on the most intractable parts of the debate, such as what to do with tax rates for the nation's wealthiest earners or how to handle the nation's entitlement programs. Rather, the initiative is simply pushing a broad message of setting aside politics in the name of seeking a broad deficit-reduction package.
"We don't advocate any particular position," said Bertolini.
"We don't want to help negotiate this for them," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, who is leading the campaign's efforts. "We're not going to tell them how you're going to fix the problem."
The campaign has said it aims to provide support to lawmakers that buck party ideology on both sides in the name of pursuing a broad deal, and backers remained optimistic that a deal could be struck even if the two sides remain distanced on unaddressed issues.
"Nothing focuses the mind like the fiscal cliff," said MacGuineas. "This is a new moment, which is filled with threats, but that threat is also an opportunity."
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