Fix The Debt

We haven’t heard many specifics from either presidential candidate about how he would Fix the Debt, but it’s an issue we can’t afford to ignore. 

As reported this morning, a bipartisan group of senators agree.  Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Mark Pryor (D-AR) have called on the Commission on Presidential Debates to ask the candidates which of the recommendations of the Bowles-Simpson proposal they would adopt as part of their plan to reduce the deficit. You can find out more in an article by Molly K. Hooper and Erik Wasson in today’s The Hill.

In a similar call for clarity, another alliance of bipartisan leaders, including former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and Fix the Debt co-chairs former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) and former New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg (R), asked the co-chairmen of the Commission on Presidential Debates  “to require the presidential candidates to offer specific, documented and comprehensive solutions” to the $16 trillion gross national debt.

There’s good reason to compel the candidates to outline their priorities for fiscal reform in Denver on October 3, when the first presidential debate is slated to cover domestic policy.

Last year alone, the interest payments on the debt were more than $230 billion. That number continues to rise rapidly, leaving less federal dollars to pay for national defense, build infrastructure, fund education, support environmental protection, undertake scientific research, or other bipartisan national priorities we all care passionately about.

There are few, if any, issues more pressing for our country, and yet we can’t say how our next President plans to solve it.

But one thing is clear: It’s time for both candidates to get down to business.

So in advance of this week’s debate, the Fix the Debt team is on the ground in Denver, pushing hard on both campaigns and in the media for better and more specific questions to be asked of, and answered by, both candidates for president.

We’ll be watching the debates with fact-checkers on hand to parse the debt-related answers. And we need you to help us wherever you are in the country.

Will you host a debate watch party? Just visit www.FixtheDebt.org/DebateWatch to find out how.

Alan Simpson Congress Debt Erskine Bowles Fix the Debt presidential debate