Chambliss, Warner Move on Deficit Bill

Cutting the deficit received a bipartisan support as Sens. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and Mark Warner, D-Va., announced plans to introduce a measure based on the controversial report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, the Finanacial Times reports.

Chambliss (pictured) told the paper that the deficit is “the most serious issue facing our country today.”

The deficit commission’s report called for $4 trillion in budget cuts in the next decade. The reduction was to come through a combination of budget cuts in various programs, including health care, defense, and social security, and tax increases. The report did not secure the support of enough members of the commission to bring it to immediate congressional action.

Chambliss and Warner are trying to move Congress toward a bipartisan solution to the debt problem, the Financial Times said. The move could put pressure on the Obama administration to come up with its own plan before the State of the Union address, the paper said.