Aug 11 2011
The deficit panel will have three months to recommend $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions over the next 10 years, with Medicare and Medicaid part of the mix. Republicans reacted by saying the picks were political moves and offered little hope of overcoming the continuing partisan stalemate.
The New York Times: Murray Is Chosen As A Leader Of Deficit Panel
Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, will be co-chairwoman of a powerful new Congressional committee that is supposed to recommend at least $1.5 trillion of additional deficit-reduction measures, the Senate majority leader announced Tuesday. The leader, Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, also appointed two other Democratic senators, Max Baucus of Montana and John Kerry of Massachusetts, to the panel. Mr. Baucus is chairman of the Finance Committee, which has authority over Medicare, Medicaid and taxes — three prime areas of attention for the new 12-member panel, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (Pear, 8/9).
Los Angeles Times: First Senators Named To Deficit Panel
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced the first three appointees to a congressional "super committee" charged with tackling the federal deficit, but the Democratic choices offer few signs that the panel can resolve the partisan stalemate that has only hardened in Congress amid the nation's worsening economic outlook. The fledgling congressional committee has three months to recommend $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions over the next decade — a goal that eluded congressional negotiators during prolonged debates during the recent debt ceiling fight (Mascaro, 8/9).
The Associated Press/Washington Post: Reid Names Sen. Patty Murray To Be Debt Panel Co-Chair; Baucus, Kerry Also Tapped
Murray, who is chairwoman of the committee to elect Democratic senators, is a longtime protector of Democratic priorities such as Medicare, Social Security and veterans' benefits, as are Kerry and Baucus. … In naming the trio, Reid opted against picking Democrats like Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad of North Dakota or Dick Durbin of Illinois, who backed curbs on Medicare spending and Social Security benefits as members of President Barack Obama's deficit commission (Taylor, 8/9).
Politico: Harry Reid Super Committee Picks In Place
A senior appropriator and Budget Committee member, Murray is also the chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which has made the GOP's focus on overhauling Medicare a centerpiece of the 2012 campaign. Baucus is the chairman of the powerful Finance Committee, while Kerry — the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee — has been lobbying for a spot. But the choice of Murray was already spawning anger from Republicans, who called it a blatantly political move aimed at filling up coffers for the Democratic campaign committee. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus called on Reid to withdraw the appointment immediately (Raju and Bresnahan, 8/9).
Meanwhile, from the KHN Archives: Highlights Of Senator Max Baucus' News Conference (9/16/09).
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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