Local Legislators Blame Fat Cats and Timid Leaders For Failure to Cut Deficit

The Congressional Supercommittee on Deficit Reduction admitted today that it would not reach a bipartisan deal to cut the deficit by Wednesday’s deadline.

While the announcement didn’t catch anyone by surprise, it did send the markets plummeting and set off a round of finger pointing across the political aisle, reported the Christian Science Monitor. The deficit and looming automatic cuts that will take place in 2013 are likely to play heavily in the 2012 election season. If lawmakers can’t find precision cuts, then broad automatic budget cuts will go into affect in 2013, cutting wide swathes of the government from defense to education. President Barack Obama vowed to keep the pressure on.

"I will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts to domestic and defense spending. There will be no easy off to this one," he said. "We need to keep the pressure up to compromise."

Legislators representing Rossmoor, Seal Beach and Los Alamitos were quick to find fault with the process. Not surprisingly Rep. Ed Royce (R-Orange) and Sen. Barbara Boxer have vastly different takes on the situation.

Boxer blamed Republicans for kowtowing to the nation’s wealthy.

“These talks failed for one reason – Republicans refused to ask millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share,” she said in a written statement. “Now we must follow the example of the Clinton years, when we balanced budgets and created 23 million new jobs by cutting smartly, investing wisely and ensuring that the wealthiest did their part.”

Royce criticized committee members for squandering an opportunity to take action.

"Last week our debt surpassed $15 trillion.  Currently, it is higher than at any point in U.S. history, and it is fast approaching 100 percent of our nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  According to the Treasury Department, for 36 straight months the U.S. has spent more money than it’s taken in.  We are well on our way to becoming the next Greece,” Royce said in a written release. "Given these alarming numbers, the failure to reach an agreement to cut $1.2 trillion in spending is egregious.  This was an opportunity to go big, rein in our national debt and put our country back on a path toward solvency.  The Super Committee failed.

"This is what the American people are tired of seeing from Washington - failure to act.  Having seen our credit rating already downgraded, Washington cannot simply sit idly by,” he added.  "It is without question that now is the time to get to work, to make the hard choices necessary to get our country back on track.  I am committed to continuing efforts to cut spending and to create an environment that encourages private-sector job creation."  

Why do you think the committee failed, and what do you want your elected leaders to do to cut the deficit? Tell us in the comments.