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Simpson Bowles getting a fresh look?

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    Pressure on lawmakers to deal with debt crisis

  • Duration 3:16
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One of the most pressing issues for President Obama and the lame duck congress is the crushing debt and deficit.

They're already is one plan out there to deal with them.

Tonight -- national -- by Jim Angle reports the proposal is getting a fresh look.

The Simpson Bowles commission -- -- work almost two years ago but is now the center of attention again even running I knew ahead part of a campaign funded by 36 million dollars in corporate contributions and.

-- private sector recognizes.

That we can't continue to live beyond our means right now we're borrowing.

About a third of everything we spend at the federal level.

And the private sector is -- -- five didian action on the -- could lead to a catastrophe in the economy.

At some point.

The financial markets could react.

Our debt could be downgraded by the rating agencies.

Interest rates could spike the stock market could tumble.

We've had no real reform to the tax code.

And we've got the fiscal cliff bearing down on us so why not look at -- symbols although it's you know over two years later.

Its recommendations take on added weight is the Congressional Budget Office released a report saying if the fiscal cliff happens the economy will shrink to half a percent.

Very very unusual for the CBO to come out and predict.

A recession -- the fiscal cliff is not resolved.

The Simpson Bowles commission had several recommendations but in its broadest form it was a little of everything.

-- balls basically.

Included a ratio of about.

Two dollars and fifty cents and spending cuts for every dollar of revenue increases.

Mostly by eliminating tax deductions it also proposed reform of entitlements such as social security and Medicare which many Democrats are resisting.

The good news is thank god people are living a heck of a lot longer.

That's great news but it isn't very good news for the treasury and one of the principles and entitlement reform was to means test benefits.

Meeting wealthier recipients get less it's got to be a means test.

If you want something.

You shouldn't get it if you need something he should get it.

Now some analysts think lawmakers can do better than Bowles Simpson because they argue it raise taxes by as much as 8000 dollars a household.

So that isn't necessarily the roadmap but it is an example of how lawmakers could avoid the -- of and where there's little time as they have to craft a bipartisan agreement.

And they need all the help they can get -- In -- speaker Boehner yesterday Jim said that in the lame duck congress they're just not going to be able to solve the big issue and he reiterated that today.

Yet it seems Democrats.

Kind of want that deadline and want that pressure as opposed to what the -- -- it.

-- exactly know the speaker is saying look we can make a down payment.

We can do so that we can't solve this during the lame duck in his view we can make a down payment and have a major solution and -- thirteen.

Democrats don't want to give up the leverage they have by having an impending fiscal crisis they want to have that dagger hanging over everyone's head.

So that they can force through the tax increases the president's been campaigning on for some time.

Okay we'll follow it Jim thanks Wall Street.

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