Washington, DC (PRWEB) October 16, 2013 -- Senate leaders announced a plan to re-open the government through January 15, raise the debt ceiling through February 7, and set up a budget conference to report recommendations by December 13. According to The Hill, Senate leaders announced the agreement on Wednesday and expect the House to vote on it soon.
The Campaign to Fix the Debt, a nonpartisan movement asking lawmakers to work together on legislation large enough to stabilize and reduce the national debt as a share of the economy, urged immediate passing of the plan.
“The Campaign to Fix the Debt is relieved that leaders in the Senate have agreed to a plan to re-open the government and avoid a dangerous default. We encourage Congress to pass and the President to sign this plan, and immediately turn their attention to the critical issue of how to put the nation on a sustainable fiscal path,” said Maya MacGuineas, who, in addition to leading the Campaign to Fix the Debt, is the President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan organization focused on educating the public on issues related to fiscal policy.
“It is incredibly disheartening that we are once again relying on last-minute deals that merely delay the real issues instead of addressing them. Playing with default was an incredibly dangerous game, but continuing to delay confronting our debt is letting a fire burn that could get out of control at any moment. We have to be able to expect more from our leaders – we cannot continue to lurch from one crisis to the next. If we do not change course, we will be dealing with these same issues all over again in only a few months’ time.
“This agreement provides for a process, through the appointment of budget conferees, to deal with the fact that the country is operating without a budget. Congress and the President must use this opportunity to put in place the long-overdue changes of making our entitlement programs more sustainable, reforming our tax code, replacing sequestration with smarter reforms, and putting the debt on a sustainable downward path,” continued MacGuineas.
“Both houses should act quickly to stop the madness, start bipartisan discussions, and solve our debt problems once and for all.”
The Campaign to Fix the Debt is a non-partisan movement asking lawmakers to work together on legislation large enough to stabilize and reduce the national debt as a share of the economy. Members come from a broad range of social, economic and political perspectives with the belief that America's growing debt burden threatens our future, and that we must address it now. The Campaign will mobilize key communities – including leaders from business, government, and policy – and people all across America who want to see elected officials step up to solve our nation's fiscal challenges.
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For more information about the Campaign to Fix the Debt, please visit http://www.fixthedebt.org.
Jon Romano, Fix the Debt, http://www.fixthedebt.org/, 617-435-6613, [email protected]
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