Commission: Neither Party Fixing Budget

Neither party is doing enough to truly attack the exploding budget deficit and government debt burden, say the co-chairmen of President Barack Obama’s fiscal commission, former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., and former Bill Clinton aide Erskine Bowles. The two sides must deal with entitlement, the duo writes in an opinion piece for The Hill.

“By focusing primarily on domestic discretionary spending, neither plan goes at all far enough to deal with our medium- or long-term fiscal challenges,” they say. “We must look to cut spending everywhere we find it. There is no way to put the budget on a sustainable path without addressing the big four — Social Security, healthcare, defense and the tax code.”

Simpson and Bowles dismiss the notion that such reform is politically unfeasible. “To the contrary, it is the only sensible way to put in place policies that can prevent a fiscal disaster.”