WASHINGTON, D.C. (MCT) — Budget rock stars converged on the congressional “supercommittee” with a sobering tough-love message as the panel struggles to find common ground on a $1.5 trillion deficit reduction plan.
“I’m worried you’re going to fail,” said Erskine Bowles, the former Clinton administration official and co-chairman of President Barack Obama’s fiscal commission.
The quartet of budget hawks — including fiscal commission co-chairman Alan Simpson, the former Republican senator — urged the supercommittee to go beyond its mandate and reduce deficits along the lines of the proposals they have offered for more than $4 trillion.
The experts urged super committee members to worry less about the political climate than the economic harm that would come from rattling credit rating firms and financial markets with failure to reach agreement by the Nov. 23 deadline.
“People admire guts and courage,” Simpson said. “They may fight you. They may vilify you. They will admire you.”
