Congressman Rick Larsen's Online Office

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02), a member of the House Budget Committee, praised the President for working to restore fiscal responsibility by signing an executive order that will establish a bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.  

“Our nation is facing an unsustainably high deficit,” said Rep. Larsen. “We need to make tough fiscal choices to cut spending and lower the deficit so we can create an economic environment that will support good jobs. This commission will go line-by-line through the budget to identify opportunities for cost-savings and ways to tackle the staggering deficit.”

The commission will be tasked with balancing the budget, excluding interest payments on the debt, by 2015 in order to improve the nation’s long-term fiscal outlook. The 18 member bipartisan commission will be selected by the President and Congressional leaders from both political parties.

“Both Republicans and Democrats got us into this fiscal mess and now we must work together to clean it up,” said Rep. Larsen. “Establishing a bipartisan deficit commission is not a cure-all, but a necessary step to rein in government spending and tackle the deficit. I look forward to working with the President and my colleagues in Congress to build a long-term, sustainable budget for our future.”

Larsen is committed to restoring fiscal responsibility and is the cosponsor of HR 1557, the America's Future Economy Commission Act or SAFE Commission Act – a bill that establishes the Securing America's Future Economy (SAFE) Commission to develop legislation designed to address the unsustainable imbalance between long-term federal spending commitments and projected revenues.

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