The committee recommendation was to have been subject to a simple vote by the full legislative bodies without amendment; this extraordinary provision was included to limit partisan gridlock.
[2] The goal outlined in the Budget Control Act of 2011 was to cut at least $1.5 trillion over the coming 10 years (avoiding much larger "sequestration" across-the-board cuts which would be equal to the debt ceiling increase of $1.2 trillion incurred by Congress through a failure to produce a deficit reduction bill), therefore bypassing Congressional debate and resulting in a passed bill by December 23, 2011.
[5] In both form and process, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction was an unusual construct in the American federal legislative system.
[6] The committee comprised twelve members of Congress, six from the House of Representatives and six from the Senate, with each delegation evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.
[12] Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced the Republican appointments to the committee from both houses on August 10, 2011.
Baucus, Becerra, Camp, and Hensarling had served on the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform; all four had voted against the Simpson-Bowles plan that emerged from that committee.
[3] This was based on estimates by the Congressional Budget Office[16] using current-law economic baseline, including the expiration of the Bush tax cuts.
[1][6][9] A "trigger mechanism" was included in the bill to enact $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts in the event that the committee could not agree on a recommendation or the full Congress failed to pass it.
[9] The bill stipulated that this automatic second installment of deficit reduction measures be split between the national security and domestic arenas,[9] with the biggest entitlement programs excluded.
Supporters believed that the prospect of imminent across–the–board spending cuts if the committee's measures were not adopted would be sufficiently "distasteful to lawmakers" to prompt them to act[6] and to impart a "strong incentive for bipartisan agreement.
"[17] Representative Rob Andrews of New Jersey supported the idea as a way to "avoid a default" although he expressed concerns that it would take too long for lawmakers to learn the "nuances of Medicare and Medicaid" with respect to intricate reimbursement formulas.
"[6] Presidential candidate Representative Ron Paul suggested that members of Congress might be under "tremendous pressure" to vote for the committee's recommendation regardless of its merit.
[28] Huffington Post critic R. W. Sanders described the committee as "unelected" with power to "effectively run our country" and possibly issue budget cuts that would "basically go unchallenged.
[31] Standard & Poor's was pessimistic at the outset regarding the chance for serious fiscal reform; the agency downgraded the nation's credit rating from AAA to AA+, writing: ...
The downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges ... (we are) pessimistic about the capacity of Congress and the Administration to be able to leverage their agreement this week into a broader fiscal consolidation plan that stabilizes the government's debt dynamics any time soon.
The outlook on the long-term rating is negative.Analyst Fareed Zakaria predicted the committee would deadlock without a majority favoring a specific plan,[30] writing: It's a punt.
The Republican Toomey plan proposed 1.2 trillion in deficit reduction, including 300 billion in new revenue, but was rejected because it lowered the top marginal tax rate from 35% to 28%.
[4] This failure despite the extraordinary conditions under which the committee operated was viewed by both sides as a missed opportunity and a triumph of political ideology over genuine leadership.
[56][57] Except for the five public hearings, the committee proceedings comprising the majority of the negotiations and counter-offers will remain sealed for 20 years under current rules.