By Jesse Liebman --
February 18, 2010
U.S. President Barack Obama will sign an executive order to establish a bipartisan commission to find ways to trim the large national budget deficit, a White House official said.
The commission will be officially titled the National
Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.
Obama has chosen Democrat Erskine Bowles, White House chief of staff for ex-president Bill Clinton, and former Republican senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming to head the panel, the official said.
In his weekly radio and internet address this past Saturday, Obama said the commission would be the best way to attain "long-term deficit reduction" while Congress cannot come to an agreement on spending cuts and tax increases that will be needed to balance the nation's budget.
Obama specifically addressed the reluctance of some Republicans to back the stronger fiscal commission proposed earlier this month after they abandoned support.
"Unfortunately this proposal -- which received the support of a bipartisan majority in the Senate -- was recently blocked," Obama said. "So, I will be creating this commission by executive order."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs has said that the appointment of Simpson should help get Congressional Republicans to support the commission.
"He is a guy with a sense of humor in a town that often lacks one," Gibbs said. "I think that will be fun for you all."
The Obama administration acknowledged earlier this month that the budget deficit will swell to a record $1.556 trillion in fiscal 2010.
