Top Republican Congressman confident of deficit deal
October 16th, 2011 - 11:39 pm ICT by IANS
Washington, Oct 16 (IANS) House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Sunday expressed confidence that a bipartisan congressional debt reduction panel could reach a deal before the Nov 23 deadline.
The newly-formed deficit “super committee,” formally named the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, would be successful, Cantor told the Fox News “Sunday” programme, reported Xinhua.
The super committee was tasked to identify at least $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts by Nov 23, a key element of the partisan debt ceiling wrangling this summer.
Experts said that the committee members — six Republicans and six Democrats — had to walk the fine line between putting the nation’s fiscal house in order and protecting programmes that keep the economy strong.
However, Cantor said that he was against tax increases to tackle the nation’s deficit challenge and that President Barack Obama’s 447-billion-dollar jobs plan was met with strong resistance in both chambers of Congress.
The US federal government registered a budget deficit of nearly $1.3 trillionfor the 2011 fiscal year ending September, creating mounting budgetary pressure for the world’s largest economy.
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Tags: barack obama, budget deficit, chambers, committee members, debt ceiling, debt reduction, deficit reduction, democrats, eric cantor, fiscal year ending september, fox news sunday, joint select committee, majority leader, republican congressman, republicans, resistance, tax increases, trillion, us federal government, xinhua