House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has chosen the three House Democrats who'll serve on the deficit reduction "super committee": Reps. James Clyburn (SC), Chris Van Hollen (MD), and Xavier Becerra (CA) complete the twelve-member panel.
Senate Democrats will send Sens. Murray (WA), Baucus (MT), and Kerry (MA) to the table. The Senate GOP will be represented by Sens. Kyl (AZ), Toomey (PA), and Portman (OH). House Republicans on the committee are Reps. Hensarling (TX), Camp (MI), and Upton (MI). Sen. Murray and Rep. Hensarling will co-chair the joint committee.
The debt ceiling plan was signed by the President just over a week ago, and calls for the special joint committee to find at least $1.2 trillion in deficit savings from spending cuts or tax revenue. The committee must then report a bill with its recommendations by November 23.
Those recommendations would then have to be voted on by the full House and Senate under special rules. If the joint committee or Congress fail to act by December 23, the bill calls for automatic across-the-board cuts, split 50-50 between defense and non-defense spending, including Medicare. Social Security and Medicaid would be excluded from the automatic cuts.
The plan also requires the House and Senate to vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, which would require a 2/3 majority in both houses. That vote must take place by December 31, 2011.
President Obama was at a battery manufacturing facility today to talk about technology and fuel standards- but also to tout the economic growth and job creation spurred by the renewable energy industry.
He told the employees of Johnson Controls in Holland, Michigan "There is nothing wrong with our country. There is something wrong with our politics."
The President urged voters in his remarks to call their members of Congress and "tell them you've had enough of the theatrics, you've had enough of the politics, stop sending out press releases. Start passing some bills that we all know will help the economy right now."
The President met yesterday with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to talk about the economy, in the wake of Standard and Poor's downgrade of U.S. debt. The stock market has been volatile since that downgrade announcement, closing down more than 500 points yesterday after being up 400 points on Tuesday. Yesterday's decline has also been attributed by some analysts to concerns over the European economy and debt.
Congress and the White House have turned their attention to job creation in the week since the passage of the debt ceiling bill, and this week Washington Journal is devoting part of each day's program to that subject:
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Today- an assessment of key federal jobs programs
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Tomorrow- women in the workforce
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that 117,000 jobs were created during July, decreasing the unemployment rate from 9.2% to 9.1%. Private sector jobs were up 154,000, and the government shed about 37,000 positions.