Hello, Guest.!

Obama-Congress Fiscal Deal Must Be Bipartisan, Budget Analyst Says

1 min read


Any deal in Congress to avert the fiscal cliff of tax increases and spending cuts must have policies that members of both parties do not like, the head of a business-backed campaign told the Business Journal.

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, told Washington bureau chief Kent Hoover the bipartisan deal needs to be in place for several years without one party trying to repeal it after it has been passed.

Putting the federal government’s fiscal house in order is not a realistic goal within the next two months, she said, adding the work toward the goal starts now and includes a down payment on the debt.

That down payment would include spending cuts, revenue increases and a process for identifying additional streams of revenue, she said.

Her comments come as the Congressional Budget Office is predicting a 9.1 percent unemployment rate by the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013 if the country goes over the fiscal cliff.

Gross domestic product would go down a half-percent for fiscal 2013, CBO said in its analysis.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.