Debt Dilemma
A fiscal commission could help lawmakers find bipartisan agreement on how to shrink the growing national debt, a panel is recommending to the House Budget Committee.
Witnesses Wednesday warned that letting the debt grow unchecked could lead to economic maladies and potentially cripple the government’s ability to respond to a major emergency or economic crisis.
“The more you wait until the last minute, be that the last minute that the trust funds have money, or the last minute before a fiscal crisis, the more limited your options will be,” said Douglas Elmendorf, a Harvard professor of public ...