U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., member of the Senate Budget and Finance Committees, issued the following statement after the announcement that the “Super Committee” had failed to reach an agreement on a proposal to address the nation’s debt crisis:
“Today’s announcement that the Super Committee has failed to reach a bipartisan agreement is not the end of the road. The solutions are out there to address our $15 trillion debt and I am ready to vote on them. The Simpson-Bowles Commission, the Gang of Six, and the Domenici-Rivlin plans all show us that bipartisan solutions are possible.
"This shows the difficulty of doing something 'comprehensive'. Perhaps now we will try the proposals in smaller chunks without the two sides trying to play ‘gotcha.’ We should, at the least, pass the parts with mutual agreement right away. That would eliminate what both sides see as leverage. Perhaps after that we could do a bill that eliminates known duplication.
“I’ve proposed my “penny plan,” also known as a “one percent solution,” that would reduce spending by 1 percent each year and cap spending so that in eight years we would have a balanced budget. It’s a simple, easily-understood plan that would make great strides in righting our fiscal ship. But no matter what plan we use, we need to make the hard decisions now. The longer we wait, the harder it will be. We can reduce the deficit if we have the will.”
The “Super Committee” is a panel of six Republicans and six Democrats created from the debt ceiling deal earlier this summer. The committee was tasked with creating a proposal that would cut $1.2 trillion from the federal budget or automatic, across-the-board spending cuts of that amount would begin in 2013.
“Today’s announcement that the Super Committee has failed to reach a bipartisan agreement is not the end of the road. The solutions are out there to address our $15 trillion debt and I am ready to vote on them. The Simpson-Bowles Commission, the Gang of Six, and the Domenici-Rivlin plans all show us that bipartisan solutions are possible.
"This shows the difficulty of doing something 'comprehensive'. Perhaps now we will try the proposals in smaller chunks without the two sides trying to play ‘gotcha.’ We should, at the least, pass the parts with mutual agreement right away. That would eliminate what both sides see as leverage. Perhaps after that we could do a bill that eliminates known duplication.
“I’ve proposed my “penny plan,” also known as a “one percent solution,” that would reduce spending by 1 percent each year and cap spending so that in eight years we would have a balanced budget. It’s a simple, easily-understood plan that would make great strides in righting our fiscal ship. But no matter what plan we use, we need to make the hard decisions now. The longer we wait, the harder it will be. We can reduce the deficit if we have the will.”
The “Super Committee” is a panel of six Republicans and six Democrats created from the debt ceiling deal earlier this summer. The committee was tasked with creating a proposal that would cut $1.2 trillion from the federal budget or automatic, across-the-board spending cuts of that amount would begin in 2013.
