Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today said he is disappointed that the Senate defeated a proposal to create a task force aimed at reducing the nation's deficit, but remains hopeful that Congress will take meaningful action to address this serious issue.  The measure needed 60 votes to pass, but received just 54.

Policies enacted over the past decade have caused our nation's balance sheet to go from record surpluses to record deficits.  To address the problem, Bingaman co-sponsored an amendment that would have set up a bipartisan task force with the authority to make deficit reduction recommendations to Congress that would have been considered under expedited "fast-track" review by Congress.  The recommendations would have been enacted only if they received a super-majority vote in Congress and the president's signature.

"Our current fiscal situation could have been avoided.  But now that we are facing staggering deficits, we must take action to restore fiscal responsibility.  One way to do that is to create new jobs, which we're working hard to do," Bingaman said.  "And I believe there is merit in creating a task force whose sole focus would have been to reduce deficits."

The proposal, called the Bipartisan Task Force for Responsible Fiscal Action Act of 2009, was written by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad and the committee's senior Republican Judd Gregg.  The bipartisan task force would have been comprised of 18 members – 8 Democrats, 8 Republicans and two members appointed by the president.