It looks like Washington is sticking with their usual methods of dealing with problems: just delay the vote! This method has been used so often, it’s almost a joke. Except, no one’s laughing. Between no clear call on the Bush tax cuts, estate tax changes, and now the deficit panel, all of Washington seems to be suffering from the same problem: procrastination in the face of opposition.
A presidential panel on balancing the U.S. budget on Wednesday revised its fiscal austerity plan with deeper spending cuts and a more flexible tax code overhaul, hoping to draw broader political support.
The 18-member commission, established in February by President Barack Obama, discussed its revised plan at a public meeting on Capitol Hill. The panel is due to vote on it on Friday, two days later than originally scheduled.
The plan envisages reducing the budget deficit to 2.3 percent of gross domestic product by 2015, from 8.9 percent in the last fiscal year as the United States, along with other major powers, struggles to right its economy after the world financial crisis and deep recession.
Republican Senator Judd Gregg and Democratic Senator Kent Conrad, both veterans of Washington's budget wars, voiced support for the plan at the commission meeting.