Tom Harkin: “the so-called supercommittee created by the Budget Control Act has begun their work. It is mandated to produce a plan by…”

“the so-called supercommittee created by the Budget Control Act has begun their work. It is mandated to produce a plan by November 23 that will reduce future deficits by at least $1.5 trillion. As chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, I have been invited to submit recommendations to the supercommittee, and I will do so in the days ahead. Certainly, I wish this group well. However, it is critically important we define success in terms that matter to working Americans. Frankly, I am deeply disturbed by the Washington groupthink that defines success narrowly in terms of maximizing deficit reduction. I have come to the floor to urge members of the supercommittee to embrace a broader and more powerful definition of success. Success must include boosting the economy and creating jobs. After all, the most effective way to reduce the deficit is to help 25 million unemployed and underemployed Americans find jobs and become taxpayers once again. There can be no sustained deficit reduction without a recovery of the economy and a return to normal levels of employment. Indeed, just yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released an analysis showing that if our economy were not in recession--if our economy were not in recession--if it were employing labor and capital at normal levels, the deficit would be reduced next year by an estimated $343 billion--a reduction of one-third of the deficit in 1 year if we just had normal employment.…”