Obama's State of the Union address: Executive order to create deficit commission
January 27, 2010 | 6:59
pm
“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)