WH fiscal commission schedules six meetings

The White House fiscal commission has scheduled six meetings before it plans to produce its recommendations to reduce deficits in December.

The meeting dates, which are subject to change, are:

Wed., May 26 

Wed., June 30 

Wed., July 28 

Wed., Sept. 29 

Wed., Nov. 10 

Wed., Dec. 1

The May session will be on Capitol Hill, the commission's co-chairman Erskine Bowles said this week. Each meeting of the full commission will be broadcast live on the internet, said Conor McKay, a commission spokesman.

The 18 members of the panel will also be split up into three working groups, one focused on entitlement programs, another focused on discretionary spending and a third focused on taxes. Those meetings won't necessarily be open to the public, but all the commission's materials and correspondence will be part of the public record, McKay said.

President Barack Obama is asking the 18-member bipartisan panel to produce a deficit-reduction plan in December. Democratic congressional leaders have pledged to hold floor votes on the plan later that month. For any plan to make it out of the commission, it must get the support of 14 members.