Consensus forming in among Washington politicians for cuts in "entitlements".

[Better Believe It]

Consensus is forming on what steps to take in cutting the deficit

By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
November 22, 2010

After an election dominated by vague demands for less debt and smaller government, the sacrifices necessary to achieve those goals are coming into sharp focus. Big cuts at the Pentagon. Higher taxes, including those on home ownership and health care. Smaller Social Security checks and higher Medicare premiums.

A debate is raging over the size and shape of those changes, particularly the wisdom of cutting Social Security benefits. But a surprisingly broad consensus is forming around the actions required to stabilize borrowing and ease fears of a European-style debt crisis in the United States. As a presidential commission struggles to build political momentum for such a package, even Republicans who initially opposed the commission's creation are still at the negotiating table.

Whatever the outcome, the plan unveiled this month by co-chairmen Erskine B. Bowles, a chief of staff in the Clinton White House, and Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, has been respectfully received with a few exceptions by both parties. Its major elements are also winning support from a striking line-up of commentators.

Former AARP chief Bill Novelli, who sits on a separate budget-balancing panel, has acknowledged the need to trim benefits to make Social Security solvent for future generations. This second panel is chaired by Alice M. Rivlin, a budget director under President Clinton, and Pete Domenici, a former Republican senator from New Mexico.

After hours of talks by the presidential deficit commission, which includes some of most liberal and conservative lawmakers in Congress, Bowles said it is clear that "there is common ground there."

Although some powerful Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), have rejected benefit cuts, others are leaving the door open.

"I'm going to listen to everything," Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), one of Pelosi's appointees to the deficit commission, said after emerging from a private session with Bowles and Simpson last week week. "I'm not going to rule anything out."

Read the full article at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/21/AR2010112103919.html