Please! No White House Lame Duck Commission

Stuart Butler / January 20, 2010

After much congressional handwringing over what budget process reform to attach to a must-pass increase in the debt ceiling, support for the legislative proposal crafted by Senate Budget Committee leaders Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) has crumbled. It fell apart as many members recognized two political facts of life. One is that it would inevitably lead to tax increases. The other, reinforced by the Massachusetts election, is that Americans are in no mood for a back-room, members-only commission that rushes its plan through Congress just after the November election.

The White House solution to the impasse? Surprise – an executive commission to do the same thing. Democratic leaders met with Vice President Joe Biden reportedly have struck a deal that would look much like the Conrad-Gregg proposal except that it would be set up by the White House.

Senator Gregg condemned the White House attempted end run. “It’s a fraud among anyone interested in fiscal responsibility to claim that an executive order could structure something that would actually lead to action,” Gregg told The Washington Post. (more…)