PPI - Radically Pragmatic
  • Donate
Skip to content
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Locations
    • Careers
  • People
  • Projects
  • Our Work
  • Events
  • Donate

Our Work

Six Reasons the Supercommittee Will Succeed

  • September 7, 2011
  • The Progressive Policy Institute

PPI Senior Fellow Paul Weinstein finds six reasons to believe the Congressional Supercommittee will succeed:

Whatever you think of Standard and Poor’s decision to downgradeAmerica’s credit, their justification was fairly plain. Political gridlock has managed to scuttle several successive efforts to get a handle on the federal debt. And few, if anyone, is sanguine that the new “supercommittee” in Congress will have any better luck.

But a closer look reveals that, despite the nation’s pessimism, there are several reasons to believe that the 12-member supercommittee may be able to implement a plan that sets the nation back on track. The setup has been rigged to force a deal. So, in an age where “shorting” the market has become a sort of dirty word, the smart money may be in betting that Washington will enact a responsible comprehensive budget framework by the end of the year.

First, the dynamics of the committee itself suggest that that building sufficient support in the room will be that much more palatable. Negotiators need only corral seven of the twelve members (50 percent plus one) to send any deal straight to the floor of both houses of Congress. By comparison, the Bowles-Simpson Fiscal Commission was required to receive a full 77 percent, and managed only 61. In essence, the fact that a decision by any single member could boost any proposal past the required threshold will compel every member of the commission to negotiate in a serious manner. That diminishes the likelihood that political shenanigans will scuttle this deal like they have undermined previous negotiations.

Read the other five over at Real Clear Politics.

Related Work

Op-Ed  |  October 17, 2025

Marshall for The Hill: Reindustrialization Is Just Central Planning, MAGA-Style

  • Will Marshall
Op-Ed  |  October 14, 2025

Manno for Forbes: The AI Jobs Debate, Simplified: From Doom To Design

  • Bruno Manno
In the News  |  October 9, 2025

Ritz Talks Shutdown Solutions on SiriusXM POTUS: The Briefing

  • Ben Ritz
Op-Ed  |  October 7, 2025

Ainsley for The Liberal Patriot: Can Liberal Patriotism Save Britain From the National Populists?

  • Claire Ainsley
In the News  |  October 5, 2025

Marshall in CNN: How Today’s Democratic Soul-Searching Echoes the Clinton Era

  • Will Marshall
Op-Ed  |  October 3, 2025

Marshall for The Hill: Democrats Need Tough Liberals Like Bobby Kennedy

  • Will Marshall
  • Never miss an update:

  • Subscribe to our newsletter
PPI Logo
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Donate
  • Careers
  • © 2025 Progressive Policy Institute. All Rights Reserved.
  • |
  • Privacy Policy
  • |
  • Privacy Settings