The Announcement Effect Club has a new member after this weekend—Fiscal Commission Co-Chair Alan Simpson. Simpson discussed the dangers of the fiscal cliff and the need for deficit reduction in an interview with Neil Cavuto. In particular, Simpson focused on the need for having a long-term plan: the direction and certainty it would provide the country would be very beneficial.

Already a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ) joined another exclusive club over the weekend: the Announcement Effect Club. His comments came during an appearance on Meet the Press yesterday (see here for a full transcript).

SEN. BILL BRADLEY:

Former President Bill Clinton joined the Announcement Effect Club at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation's Fiscal Summit yesterday in a Q&A session with Tom Brokaw (you can see the video of it here).

Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) has been a member of CRFB's Announcement Effect Club since June of last year. During a briefing on the Hill yesterday, Rep. Hoyer reaffirmed his position in the club when he pointed out that simply committing to a balanced and comprehensive fiscal plan could do a lot to restore confidence in the U.S. economy.

Yesterday, Moody's Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi penned an article in Politico about the various possible outcomes of the looming Super Committee deadline. His remarks about the benefits of a multi-trillion dollar deficit reduction plan allow us to welcome him to the growing list of members in our Announcement Effect Club. Congrats!

At today’s Super Committee hearing, each of the twelve members had the chance to address CBO Director Doug Elmendorf on issues related to discretionary spending and the budget at large, and in it, Director Elmendorf made some very important statements regarding our fiscal challenges and the benefits of addressing them.

Yesterday while making comments about the Jobs and Competitiveness Council, President Obama made some remarks that qualified him to be the newest member of CRFB's Announcement Effect Club. Here's what caught our attention (from Politico):

Obama also sought Monday to link the deficit-cutting talks and the issue identified in polls by most Americas as their top concern: job creation.

Over the past few weeks, a number of new members have been added to The Announcement Effect Club. Recently, Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein, Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) all joined the club. All pointed out that enacting a fiscal plan now to reduce our long-term fiscal problems would restore confidence in the market and thus bring about short-term economic benefits in addition to the long-term benefits often associated with deficit reduction.

Update: Estimates updated

Over the holiday break, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) gave an interview on Fox News that qualified him to be the newest member of the Announcement Effect Club.