Blue Dogs to Introduce “Targeted Deficit Reduction Act of 2010”

Today, members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition will continue the roll out of their blueprint for fiscal reform with the introduction of the "Targeted Deficit Reduction Act of 2010." The legislation, which sets concrete goals for deficit reduction and compels Congress to take action in order to meet those goals, would take another significant step toward putting the country back on a sustainable fiscal course.

"Making the necessary cuts to the federal budget will not be easy, but for Congress to pass budgets each year without concrete goals to reduce the deficit is ridiculous," said Representative Betsy Markey (D-CO), Blue Dog member and lead sponsor of the legislation. "Colorado families make tough choices every day with their own budgets, and our federal budget should be no different. This bill will force Congress to make the kind of difficult decisions that are so critical to putting our country back on a fiscally sustainable path."

Earlier this Congress, members of the coalition announced the Blue Dog Blueprint for Fiscal Reform, a 15 point plan to reduce wasteful and unnecessary government spending and restore fiscal discipline to the federal government. The "Targeted Deficit Reduction Act of 2010," a critical component of that plan, would:

- Establish targets for the next decade to stabilize the federal budget.
- Set three fiscal targets --- primary budgetary balance in 5 years (2015); full balance and 60% debt-to-GDP in 10 years (2020).
- Require the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to report to Congress on the appropriate glide path and necessary annual deficit reduction amount to achieve the fiscal targets by Feb. 15 of each year.
- Require that with the annual budget resolution, the budget committee must provide instructions to reduce the deficit and will require the appropriate committees to return deficit-reducing legislation within 45 days.
- Create a plan to reduce the deficit by more than $350 billion over 5 years.

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