It's surprising that there has been little publicity about the fact the first meeting of the bipartisan deficit reduction commission is scheduled for tomorrow, April 27, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. ET. The commission is required to report its findings by December 1. speaker. The director of this commission is Bruce Reed, the CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council. So President Obama has firmly placed the DLC wing of the Democratic Party in charge of deficit reduction.
Rep. John Conyers sent a letter to the commission requesting openness in its proceedings. After sending a letter to members of Congress asking them to co-sign this request, the following Representatives joined him: Cummings, Dan Davis, Ethridge, Filner, Grijalva, Jackson-Lee, Kaptur, Kissel, Kucinich, Barbara Lee, Richardson, Sutton, Watson.
The text of his letter is here.
http://conyers.house.gov/...
The commission does not appear to have its own website on whitehouse.gov yet. However, the full membership list of the commission is on Conyers' website in the above-referenced document. Here is the list:
Bruce Reed, Director - CEO, Democratic Leadership Council
Erskine Bowles
Alan Simpson
Cavid Cote, Chm. and CEO, Honeywell
Ann Fudge, Chm. and CEO, Young & Rubicam
Alive Rivlin, Sr. Fellow, Brookings Institution
Andy Stern, President SEIU
Max Baucus (D-MT)
Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Kent Conrad (D-ND)
Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Judd Gregg (R-CT)
Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
John Spratt (D-SC)
Xavier Becerra (D-CA)
Dave Camp (R-MI)
Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
Paul Ryan (R-WI)
There are no East or West Coast Democratic Senators on this commission. Whereas the population elected a Democratic majority in Congress, this commission puts the Republicans on an equal footing.
Even worse, there are no African American members of Congress on the commission. I called the offices of Conyers and Cummings about this matter, as it is outrageous that a deliberation on the budget and deficit would fail to include any member of the Black Congressional Caucus. The staff member at Rep. Cummings office said that Cummings made a request to be on the commission and this request was denied.
The meeting will be followed by a deficit reduction "summit" on April 28. It is sponsored by the Peterson Foundation. with Bill Clinton as the keynote speaker. This summit is not a part of the government, but will only add to the organized force of "deficit hawks" who could attempt to threaten Social Security and Medicare.