CED Calls on Super Committee to Exceed Its Mandate

Earlier today, the Committee for Economic Development (CED) released a set of six standards that they believe the Super Committee must follow in order to succeed. CED, a business-led public policy group based in Washington, stated in its press release that the standards were developed by the CED Subcommittee on Fiscal Health and "have the strong endorsement of the two CED Co-Chairmen, Donald K. Peterson, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Avaya Inc., and Roger W. Ferguson Jr., former Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman." Several other business leaders also endorsed the statement.

The six standards are:

1. The Committee must reduce the deficit by far more than $1.2 trillion minimum required by the Budget Control Act, at least $4 trillion in total savings will be required to stabilize the debt.
2. Medicare and Social Security must be on the table and be made sustainable for the long term.
3. The agreement must include additional tax revenues and fundamental tax reform.
4. The Committee must achieve substantial savings from non-Medicare, non-Social Security spending, including defense and domestic programs.
5. The Committee must provide a boost to the struggling U.S. economy, but the effort must be simple and clean.
6. The Committee must put together a deficit reduction program with genuine bi-partisan commitment that will withstand political challenge now and in the future.

CED also stated that it would be releasing more specific recommendations on how the these standards can be adhered to in the coming weeks, and that they would be engaged with members of the Committee as well as the voting public in an effort to support the Super Committee's work. Bowman Cutter, co-chair of CED's Fiscal Health Subcommittee and former OMB deputy director, was quoted in the release saying:

The business community understands that it cannot exempt itself from the political and financial pain that deficit reduction may cause. We cannot ask others to bear the necessary burden of reducing the deficit unless the spending programs and tax provisions important to business are put under the same microscope.

We are thrilled to see CED adding its support to the growing call for the Super Committee to GO BIG on deficit reduction, and we applaud them for releasing this set of standards and taking such an active role in supporting the important work of the Super Committee. These six standards would serve as an excellent framework to help the Committee reach agreement on a comprehensive, bipartisan fiscal plan that stabilizes and reduces our debt and puts the U.S. back on a sustainable fiscal path. CED concludes their statement with the following:

Members of the business community understand the threat that a renewed debt crisis would pose to our customers, our employees, and our shareholders alike. All Americans are in this together. Members of Congress who refuse to negotiate in the name of party principle, however sincerely held, will find cold comfort if they cause a financial panic for the “right” reasons.

It is time for our elected leaders to lead, and to find common ground for the national interest that they have sworn to protect.

Click here to read CED's full statement, Six Standards for the Joint Select Committee.

Click here to read CED's press release.