MY VIEW: Bill Frenzel and Charlie Stenholm

In an op-ed in The Hill today, CRFB co-chairs Bill Frenzel and Charlie Stenholm propose a fiscally responsible approach to raising the debt ceiling. They recommend including a comprehensive fiscal reform plan along the lines of the Fiscal Commission's proposal as part of a debt ceiling increase.

The authors note, however, that it may be unrealistic to expect such a plan to pass before action on the debt limit is needed. Frenzel and Stenholm recognize that we may need a Plan B to start getting control of future deficits while also responsibly increasing the debt limit:

So, we need a Plan B to buy some time. Over the past two years, we have worked on the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform with a team of colleagues who have headed the Office of Management and Budget, the Congressional Budget Committee and the Fed, developing a plan for statutory debt and savings targets. These targets would commit policymakers to bringing down our deficits and debt as a precursor to agreeing on the specifics of a deal. Attaching these enforceable targets to the debt ceiling would allow us to take the first step to moving the budget in the right direction immediately.

Click here to read the full op-ed.

"My Views" are works published by members of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, but they do not necessarily reflect the views of all members of the Committee.