Business, Science, Engineering and University Leaders Urge Tough Choices on the National Deficit

Washington –

Today, in a letter to President Obama and congressional leadership, leaders from a broad-based group representing business, university, science and engineering communities called for effective bipartisan action to rein in the burgeoning national deficit.

“An effective deficit reduction plan cannot focus entirely on decreasing discretionary expenditures; it must also include tax reform, spending prioritization and actions to strengthen economic growth,” the group said in the letter. “Largely missing in the budget discussions to date are the entitlement programs, particularly the major ones: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Any serious and sincere deficit reduction plan must include entitlement reform.”

“Economic growth and job creation require federal investment to prepare our children with world-class educations and to support the scientific and technology research and innovation infrastructure that enable the private sector to create jobs and compete in the global economy,” the group continued.

Signatories to the letter are:
•    Norman R. Augustine, retired Chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corporation      and former Undersecretary of the Army
•    John Engler, President, Business Roundtable and former Governor of Michigan
•    Charles M. Vest, President, National Academy of Engineering
•    Robert M. Berdahl, President, Association of American Universities
•    M. Peter McPherson, President, Association of Public and Land-grant         Universities
•    Deborah L. Wince-Smith, President and CEO, Council on Competitiveness

The group’s statement concludes: “Americans must set priorities and share in the sacrifice required to put our fiscal house in order. This is consistent with the model discussed in the bipartisan majority report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform – the Bowles-Simpson commission. We applaud those bipartisan efforts now underway among some Senators to put a broad-based deficit reduction plan on the table, and we welcome the recent letter signed by 64 Senators calling for a ‘broader discussion about a comprehensive deficit reduction package.’”

Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) issued a statement acknowledging the group’s support: “Our country is at a critically important moment, and we must seize this opportunity to get our fiscal house in order for the long term. That’s why I’ve been working with my Republican colleague Sen. Saxby Chambliss, and a growing number of our Senate colleagues to tackle these tough fiscal challenges in a more comprehensive and responsible way. We are working on a bipartisan framework that will help control government spending, simplify the tax code and begin to eliminate our deficits and debt. This is the only way we will fix our nation’s balance sheet and reposition America to compete and win over the long term. It will require the active support of our nation’s business and educational leaders, and today’s announcement will be helpful to our efforts.”

Additionally, Congressman Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) offered the following: “It is clear that our nation is at the edge of a fiscal cliff. Within 15 years, every penny of the federal budget will be consumed by entitlement programs and interest on the debt. This means no money for national defense, homeland security, transportation infrastructure or research and development programs.

“We must be able to compete with every country in the world, which is why nearly five years ago, I introduced bipartisan legislation that put everything on the table for discussion – entitlements, all other spending programs and tax policy – and it became the blueprint for the President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, or the Bowles-Simpson commission. Had I been a member of the Bowles-Simpson commission, I would have voted to send the plan to Congress and should it come before the Congress, I would vote for it.  

“I applaud this effort by the U.S. business, academic and science community to call on the President and Congress to deal with this issue.”