Blue Dogs push for fiscal commission in stimulus

Armed with a new Treasury Department report, conservative Democrats on Monday said they want the economic stimulus package to call for the creation of a new commission on the nation’s long-term fiscal health.

{mosads}Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) a leader of the Blue Dog Coalition, and Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), the vice chairman of New Democrats Coalition, seized on the release of the 2008 Financial Report of the United States Government to make their case that action is needed immediately. They called the “shocking” report — which showed that the government’s unfunded liabilities are roughly $56 trillion, a $3 trillion increase from last year ­– underscored the need for a long-term plan to be included in any short-term stimulus package enacted early next year.

“This is what we’re hoping to raise as part of the discussions about putting together the second stimulus bill,” Kind said, adding that policymakers need to focus on the short-term economic needs of the country as well as long-term reforms.

Cooper, a long-time budget hawk and senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said a “fiscal cancer” is eating away at the country, and that a commission or summit to address the nation’s long-term insolvency problems would be “chemotherapy.”

Cooper has proposed such a commission, which has been endorsed by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) but not been embraced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

However, Cooper said on Monday he hopes the new report will get Pelosi’s attention.

“Once she sees this report and sees that, at a minimum, the deficit last year was $1 trillion, and if you take a broader measure it’s closer to $3 trillion, I think that would make it more likely that she would endorse a commission or summit approach.”

More importantly, Cooper and Kind said they have the attention of President-elect Barack Obama.

Cooper said that a recent meeting between the Blue Dogs and Obama economic team members yielded a “very positive reception,” and that, as a whole, Blue Dogs believe they have Obama’s ear on this issue, if not a commitment in principle to addressing their fiscal concerns through a summit or commission, and to include that legislation in the stimulus bill.

Many Blue Dogs, Cooper included, have balked at supporting economic stimulus plans in the past that haven’t been paid for, including the House’s last attempt at a $61 billion plan, which passed the lower chamber in September but died in the Senate.