Supercommittee: All GOP Members Are White Males
When Congress created the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction in early August, it handed over the jobs of 535 congressional members to a politically diverse group of just 12. Now, the “Super Committee”, as the chosen dozen is known, has until Nov. 23 to recommend or reject at least $1.2 trillion in spending cuts and revenue increases in an up or down vote by Dec 23.
In ceding power to the Super Committee, Congress has, essentially “put a gun to its own head” because the law that created the committee requires that any cuts less than the $1.2 trillion must then be reached by the
Obama Administration. That process, known as “sequestration,” must be determined by January 2013, setting up an unparalleled scenario wherein President Obama or his eventual Republican opponent could be handed the power of the purse. This will clearly become a major issue for debate during the 2012 election year.
The jurisdiction of the Super Committee is wide and its deliberations will leave nothing off the table, including defense spending, entitlement funding and tax reform. While some federal program cuts and reforms might seem like easy targets or low-hanging fruit, there remains to be seen whether or not the team of 12 will find consensus as it undertakes large-scale reform of major programs. A simple majority vote is needed to forward its proposals.
One looming threat is the mandate that any sequestration process turned over to the administration must achieve the $1.2 trillion reduction through an equal amount of defense and non-defense cuts. This could have a significant effect on defense contractors and communities that rely heavily on military bases for economic stimulus. The Super Committee is a bipartisan body evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. It consists of ideologically and geographically diverse members selected
by their leadership.
California Democrat Xavier Becerra serves as its only Hispanic. Elected in 1992, the 12-term Los Angeleno serves on the House Ways and Means Committee (tax, trade and entitlement policy). A former chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, he has advocated both for tax increases and spending cuts to achieve the Super Committee’s mandated goal.
Other Democrat selections included one African American and one white female. All of the six Republicans are white males.
According to the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, Becerra’s district has a high proportion of poor residents who rely on federal services and programs such as food stamps, Medicaid and Social
Security. In his public remarks during open Super Committee meetings and hearings, he has advocated that those he deems “responsible for our deficits (Wall Street bankers) pay their fair share” in new taxes.
Super Committee members will continue to meet regularly until the Nov. 23 deadline. While some media have reported that the timeline could slip, the members will continue to weigh all possible scenarios for reaching the required cuts up until the deadline.
