Fix the Debt is a group of executives and former legislators who campaign for deficit reduction and tax reform. The Campaign to Fix the Debt was founded in July 2012 by Erskine Bowles and Al Simpson. The Campaign comprises a variety of socio-economic and political views and engages business and government leaders alongside American citizens.
Video Fix the Debt
Leadership
Fix the Debt is chaired by Judd Gregg and Edward Rendell.
Steering committee
As of 12 May 2017, the campaign's steering committee comprises the following members:
- Michael Bloomberg
- Phil Bredesen
- Kent Conrad
- David M. Cote
- Pete Domenici
- Vic Fazio
- Jim McCrery
- Sam Nunn
- Michael Peterson
- Steven Rattner
- Alice Rivlin
- Scott Smith
- Antonio Villaraigosa
- Robert Zoellick
Maps Fix the Debt
History
The campaign was launched in late 2012 with print, digital, and outdoor advertisements and chapters across 17 states. One of the campaign's primary contributors was Peter George Peterson, a billionaire investor and former chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers. Other early members included Ed Rendell, Judd Gregg, and Maya MacGuineas, who became the campaign's official spokesperson.
The group's influence in the corporate sector quickly grew, as early members David M. Cote, Mark Bertolini, and Larry Fink began recruiting other big business associates. By November 2012, the organization's CEO Council was composed of approximately 150 executives. In the financial sector, Steven Rattner and James B. Lee, Jr. became the lead recruiters. The campaign proposed a July 4, 2013 deadline for an austerity plan akin to the Simpson-Bowles plan, but was met with resistance at the grassroots and governmental levels. In a 2013 interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader, Cote identified the problem of debt reduction in the United States as being the fact that "Washington is ruled by fear of voters ... and the three 'h's' prevail--hysteria, histrionics and hyperbole". He also framed the options for deficit reduction in terms of either increases in taxes or a reduction in social security benefits. During negotiations over the Federal deficit during which some Republicans threatened a default, one lobbyist was quoted as identifying "the rise of an ideological wing [within the Republican Party] that is now willing to stand up to business interests".
In 2015, the campaign identified three goals in the 2016 presidential election: to incentivize candidates to create and follow through on fiscal strategies, to increase engagement with the public and the media on relevant issues, and to hold candidates responsible for statements made on fiscal policy. Following the November 2016 Presidential election, Rendell criticized Donald Trump's fiscal policy, claiming it increase the debt by $5 trillion in the first 10 years. In 2017, Rattner sought to explain growing divide within the campaign and the CEO Council's shifting focus from shrinking the debt to tax cuts as not being contradictory.
Criticism
The Fix the Debt campaign has been criticized since its inception for its hypocrisy in advocating for corporate tax breaks while calling for cutting funds to Social Security and Medicare. Kevin Connor, director of the Public Accountability Initiative, as quoted in The New York Times, identified a possible conflict of interest between the broad objectives of the group and the reality of their day to day lobbying of Washington for favorable tax treatment of their own industries and continued government spending on programs that benefit their companies. He also pointed out that the group calls for a reduction in government spending on social security but not on defence spending, a major business area for Honeywell. "It's easier to get face time in Washington as a deficit hawk than as a corporate hack," he said, continuing "They are spending millions, but they are protecting billions in defense contracts and tax giveaways that would otherwise be on the chopping block."
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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