WASHINGTON — The fragile economy and wildly gyrating financial markets could put enormous pressure on Congress’ new debt-reduction supercommittee. Yet even as leaders finished naming the bipartisan panel’s members, it remained uncertain that it will ultimately agree on a savings plan.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced the panel’s final three members Thursday, and like the previous nine, all are congressional veterans. They are Reps. James Clyburn of South Carolina and Xavier Becerra of California, members of their party’s House leadership, and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, top Democrat on the Budget Committee.
Last week’s agreement between President Barack Obama and Congress creating the panel gives it until Nov. 23 to propose $1.5 trillion in savings over the coming decade. If the committee fails to agree on a plan — or if Congress doesn’t approve one by Dec. 23 — automatic spending cuts would be triggered affecting hundreds of federal programs.
As if that weren’t enough pressure, recent days have seen world financial markets endure breathtaking ups and downs, plus the downgrade of the nation’s credit rating by Standard & Poor’s and continued fears of economic weakness in the U.S. and Europe.
In a conference call with reporters, Clyburn said he thinks the panel can produce more than $1.5 trillion in savings, as long as Republicans drop their objections to raising revenues.
“I think the moment we can get some of our Republican friends to stop interpreting closing loopholes as raising taxes, we’ll get home free on this,” Clyburn said.
Underscoring the political tensions involved, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said it is time for Obama “to outline his own recommendations to rein in the massive deficits and debt that are undermining job creation in our country.”
