Senator Chambliss Talks about the Gang of Six, the Efforts of the Supercommittee, and Why the Key to Reducing the Debt Begins and Ends with Bipartisanship

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) appeared at a breakfast meeting of The Ripon Society yesterday morning, delivering a speech in which he spoke about his efforts as a leader of the Gang of Six, discussed the challenge facing the Deficit Supercommittee this fall, and stated that the key to reducing the Nation’s debt will not be found with some “silver bullet,” but rather will be the result of bipartisanship and the willingness of Republicans and Democrats to reach common ground.
Chambliss began his remarks by discussing his partnership with Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, and how conversations between the two during the summer before last resulted in a larger and more comprehensive effort involving likeminded Senators who were interesting in getting spending under control.

“We got to talking about the issue of the debt and the deficit and how everybody seemed to be focused on the November 2010 election and no one seemed to be focused on this issue that is obviously the most important issue of our time right now,” the Senior Senator from Georgia recalled. “So Mark and I said, ‘You know, we don’t know all the details of this issues, and the why’s of how we got here or the way forward, but it might be a good idea if we start to bring some folks in to educate ourselves, and maybe we can expand from two to four to maybe eight and ten — which we did.

“We brought in any number of experts from around the country — folks like Bernanke, and folks like the Bowles-Simpson Commission, economists and financial experts from around the country just to talk to members of the Senate about the issue and the consequences of doing nothing and the consequences of not doing enough. And our group grew from the two of us to ultimately at the last meeting we had 31 members of the Senate — 16 Republicans and 15 Democrats. And there were others who were part of our group that couldn’t be there that afternoon. This doesn’t mean there were that many people who were ready to raise their right hand and charge the hill and support whatever. But it does show that there was enough level of interest in that many members of the Senate about the issue and that they now understood how serious the issue was and were willing to dialogue about it.

“In fact, at that meeting that day we decided to go to the floor and just have a colloquy or have folks get up and speak or whatever they wanted to do. Our problem was that we didn’t have enough time for everyone to go down and speak. But that’s a good problem to have for an issue that’s this serious. What we did was, we had an hour and 15 minutes that day, and we had to limit the number of people that could go down and limit their time, obviously, to a couple of minutes. It did show, number one, that policymakers in Washington understand how serious this issue really is; and number two, that there is no silver bullet and there has to be a bipartisan solution to it. We were willing to talk about it. There was nothing laid on the table that day during the course of the floor debate except that we did talk about the issue and say that we understood how serious it was and that we look forward to working on it moving forward.”

According to Chambliss, from that bipartisan group of 31 Members of the Senate emerged a smaller group who were charged by their colleagues to come up with a workable solution to the growing debt crisis that both Republicans and Democrats could support. This was the “Gang of Six,” a group that both Chambliss and Warner were a part of, and one that continues to work toward a solution today.

“We did ultimately conclude,” he noted, “after a significant period of time that $4 trillion is the absolute minimum number if we’re going to show the marketplace that we are serious about getting this debt under control. What are the consequences if you don’t? Well, the way things are measured in the financial world is relative to GDP. For example we know now that our spending relative to GDP is at 25 percent. That is an all-time high. We also know that our revenue relative to GDP is 14 and a half percent. That is what’s causing these trillion dollar plus deficits we’ve experienced the last three years. So we know we have to close that gap. But the number that is more significant to me than those two numbers is the 63 percent of GDP that we currently owe as a public debt. Every economist will tell you when that number relative to GDP hits 90 percent, then that is the tipping point from which there is no point of return. That is where the Greece’s, the Portugal’s, the Spain’s, the Italy’s are either at or headed to. We’ve got to do something about this now.”

Recalling the attention and enthusiasm that surrounded the plan ultimately released by the Gang of Six to address this issue, Chambliss said he thought that part of the enthusiasm had to do with the fact that, “…three Republicans and three Democrats could sit down in a realistic way and come up with some resolution. We agreed on something. We agreed on the revenue side that you had to put revenue on the table. They agreed on the entitlement side that you had to put Social Security and Medicare on the table.” Chambliss went on to add that he and other Members of the Gang of Six had met recently with the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to discuss the challenges facing the Supercommittee and the limited time frame the panel has to solve them. “The six guys on our side are all bright and smart,” he stated. “They are very capable, and here’s hoping they come up with a very good solution.”

The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.