Ridge and Davis: Stand up for Simpson-Bowles

by Tom Ridge and Lanny Davis, USA TODAY, 02/08/2013

We have heard the president and leaders of both parties talk about the need for a “balanced approach” in addressing our nation’s unsustainable and unconscionable $16 trillion national debt. Now the president has a chance during his State of the Union Address, scheduled at his request on Feb. 12, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, to state specifically what he means.

We hope the president says and does the following as the nation watches on television:

“Members of Congress: I have invited here tonight, as guests of honor, two great public servants, Republican Alan Simpson, former United States senator from Wyoming, and Democrat Erskine Bowles, President Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff.

“They co-chaired the bipartisan debt reduction commission that I appointed. I ask them to stand and be recognized for their important work and their specific recommendations that, if enacted, would reduce our nation’s deficits by more than $4 trillion over the next 10 years.

“Their recommendations called for substantial and specific spending cuts, reduction in corporate taxes, elimination of tax loopholes and deductions to raise revenues, and fundamental cost-saving reforms to Medicare, Social Security and other entitlement programs, with those who are most well off in our society bearing more of the burdens of these specific measures to reduce our deficits than those who are least well off.

“Those specific recommendations were supported by more than 60% of the members of the commission — including progressive Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad from North Dakota and Richard Durbin from my home state of Illinois, and conservative Republican Sens. Tom Coburn from Oklahoma and Mike Crapo from Idaho.

Face the cameras

“I am now going to state clearly, for the first time: I support the recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles commission.

“Do you?

“If you do, stand up, and let Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles and the American people see you. And let them also see those of you who remain seated.”

At that point, the president should pause as the TV cameras slowly pan both sides of the aisle, with close-up shots of those who stand up and face Simpson and Bowles to show their support, and close-ups of those who remain seated.

The American people will see — dramatically — who is standing up for our children and cutting deficits, and who is not.

Debt is a moral issue

Many Democrats and Republicans have been disappointed in President Obama’s explanations for why he hasn’t supported the recommendations of his own commission. His former chief economic adviser recently said the reason was that the president knew the recommendations were dead on arrival in Congress.

Since when is that a reason for a president not to lead? The president is the only person who represents all the American people. In fact, if the president chooses to lead and fight for enactment of Simpson-Bowles, a majority in both houses of Congress — and a majority of the American people — will support him.

We also know that this issue must be framed as a moral issue, not just an economic issue. It is immoral for one generation to use credit cards for much of its spending and then turn over the bills to children, grandchildren and probably great-grandchildren. It is flat out wrong.

Of course, we realize the president may not take our recommendation. But if he did, or at least publicly challenged all members of Congress to stand up on national TV to join him in endorsing the specifics of Simspon-Bowles, we predict many members of Congress who decided to sit in their seats during the telecast would not be eligible to sit in those seats after the 2014 elections.

Those who remain in their seats may run for re-election, but if they failed to join the president in embracing the recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles commission, they can no longer hide their evasion on a key moral issue of our time — the unsustainable debt.

Americans are tired of deficit reduction talk. If the president embraced the Simpson-Bowles recommendations and made this public challenge to Congress, presidential leadership would own the night, and action would follow.

Tom Ridge was the first secretary of Homeland Security and is a former governor of Pennsylvania. Lanny Davis was special counsel to President Clinton and is a partner with former RNC chairman Michael Steele at Purple Nation Solutions.