Sen. Rob Portman '78, R-Ohio, was appointed on Wednesday to the 12-member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, a committee tasked with reducing the deficit by $1.5 trillion more than what was stated in the Budget Control Act passed on Aug. 2, according to The New York Times.
"I am honored to join [the committee] and will work hard to ensure that meaningful spending cuts are made to reduce our deficits," Portman said in a public statement.
Appointed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Portman will work with Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., to "show that lawmakers in Washington can work together on a plan that puts America back on the path to prosperity," he said in the statement.
The bipartisan select committee is now a fundamental part of the new Budget Control Act and will operate for the next 10 years, according to a press release from McConnell.
The committee is equally comprised of Republican and Democratic members of both the House and the Senate, according to the release. Committee members have until Nov. 23 of this year to vote on legislation to reduce the federal deficit.
Portman, who is currently in his first term in the Senate, is the only former director of the Office of Management and Budget on the joint committee. He is a member of the Budget Committee and served in the House of Representatives from 1993 to 2005. In the House, he served as vice chair of the House Budget Committee and as a member of the House Ways & Means Committee. Among his colleagues, he has developed a reputation as a "pragmatist who could work across the aisle," according to The Times.
In Congress, Portman has voted consistently with Republicans, but he has also collaborated with Democrats on economic issues such as pension and taxes, according to The Times.
If the committee comes to an agreement on legislation, members can send their recommendations for voting on the floors of the House and Senate without additional amendments, according to The Times.
However, Congressional aides speculate that Portman's political views could cause a stalemate, preventing the committee from deciding on a legislative path to follow, The Times reported.
Democrats and moderates said they hope panel members will be less party-minded considering the factors that are contributing to the nation's current economic turmoil including the demotion of the government's credit rating and the stock market's recent plummet.
"With the U.S. debt now equal to 100 percent of the GDP, Washington cannot continue to kick the can down the road again," Portman said in his statement. "Not only does the out-of-control spending have a long-term impact on American economic stability, but it has an immediate impact on our ability to generate jobs and opportunities."
Under the new act, if the committee produces legislation that reduces the deficit by $1.2 trillion or greater and if that legislation is passed into law, the president would have the power to request a debt limit increase of an equal amount. The debt limit increase would be capped at $1.5 trillion, and it would also be subject to disapproval from the legislative branch, according to The Times.
In the event that the committee cannot agree upon legislation, a sequester mechanism would initiate automatic cuts. Both parties designed the sequester to give a strong incentive for the committee to reach the deadline with a plan of action, according to McConnell's release.
In light of the deadline, McConnell said in his release that the committee appointees were selected based on previous "serious constructed interest in achieving a result that helps to get our nation's fiscal house in order."
His plan of action is to have the committee focus on entitlement programs what he considers the biggest unnecessary contributions to the debt and on reforming tax code that will make Americans more globally competitive and reduce unemployment, the release said.
