Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today said he strongly supports a measure being debated in the Senate aimed at reducing the nation's deficit.

Bingaman said ill-advised decisions made over the last decade have caused the country to go from record surpluses to record deficits.  To help address the problem, Bingaman is co-sponsoring an amendment that sets up a bipartisan task force with the authority to make deficit reduction recommendations to Congress that will be considered under expedited "fast-track" review by Congress, and be enacted if the recommendations receive a super-majority vote in Congress and the president's signature.

"This task force may be the best hope we have in this polarized political environment to reduce our nation's deficit.  I strongly support the passage of this proposal," Bingaman said.

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 be comprised of 18 members – 8 Democrats, 8 Republicans and two members appointed by the president.

The Senate is expected to vote on the proposal in the coming days.