Deficit Panel Fails in Super-Majority Vote, Actually a Partial Victory in the Loss

The Deficit Panel has failed to reach a super-majority that would be enough to trigger a vote in Congress.  That is the bad news, but frankly we already expected this.  The good news is that there was a majority vote in favor of the deficit panel recommendation plans and that majority was a bi-partisan majority rather than it just being a one-party vote.

The pain and sacrifice that would have to be absorbed is something that we acknowledge most politicians just cannot or will not ask of their voting constituents.

As noted when the deficit panel’s plan was released, this is just the first chapter of what we have coined as “The Deficit Manifesto.” There are many more chapters to come.

The final vote was 11 for, 7 against.  The panel needed 14 of 18 votes to trigger a mandatory vote in Congress.  It is hard to call this move a total failure when it did at least get a bi-partisan majority even if a super-majority was needed.

On to the second chapter of “The Deficit Manifesto.”

JON C. OGG