Opinion: Obama’s State of the Union address: Executive order to create deficit commission

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Addressing action taken by the Senate on Tuesday, President Obama said he would proceed with plans to create a commission to reduce the federal budget deficit.

“Yesterday, the Senate blocked a bill that would have created this commission. So I will issue an executive order that will allow us to go forward, because I refuse to pass this problem on to another generation of Americans,” Obama said.

The failed proposal would have required Congress to accept or reject the commission’s recommendations without making changes, a provision designed to prevent lawmakers from dodging the most politically risky proposals.

The vote came hours after the Congressional Budget Office issued a report predicting that the 2010 budget deficit would be $1.35 trillion. That’s better than last year’s deficit of $1.4 trillion, but still a sign of a struggling economy.

Obama noted that the commission was modeled on a proposal by Sen. Judd Gregg, a Republican from New Hampshire, and Sen. Kent Conrad, a Democrat from North Dakota.

-- Steve Padilla
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President Barack Obama gives his first State of the Union address to Congress on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, January 27, 2010 in Washington, D.C. (Robert Giroux/MCT)