Statement on the Failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction

Statement

Congresswoman Waters (CA-35) today issued the following statement reacting to news that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction was unable to reach bipartisan agreement and present a deficit reduction package to the Congress, pursuant to the Budget Control Act of 2011:

"I have been opposed to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, commonly known as the "Super Committee," from the very beginning and never had any confidence that the 12 Members would be able to reach a consensus on deficit reduction that included short term measures to stimulate job creation. That is why I introduced legislation to repeal both the Super Committee and the harmful, automatic cuts that the Super Committee's failure have triggered. I have always believed that the Super Committee was a misguided distraction that diverted Congressional attention from the nation's unemployment crisis, which is not only an emergency for the 24 million individuals in need of full-time work, but is also one of the single largest contributors to our federal deficit.

What this process has made clear is that the Republicans lack any real solutions to address the unemployment crisis, are steadfast in their desire to privatize Medicare and are unmoving in their refusal to consider tax increases on the wealthiest Americans. This intransigence is made all the more galling when considering the fact that a clear majority of Americans -- and even a majority of Republicans -- support raising taxes on the wealthy as a means of achieving deficit reduction.

Instead of responsibly governing, the House Republicans have held hostage the legislative process and have relied on political stunts and manufactured crises to pursue their radical agenda. The Super Committee was born when Republicans turned a perfunctory vote on the debt ceiling into a showdown that brought us to the brink of defaulting on our obligations to our creditors. Now that the Super Committee has failed, I hope that regular order can be restored, and that the debate over job creation and deficit reduction can move out from the shadows.

I will continue to communicate my message to the Congress that jobs must come first, and the House and Senate should be devoting all of its time to rebuilding the nation's infrastructure and helping to put all Americans back to work. Employing Americans is essential to not only restoring our economic competitiveness, but reducing our deficit."

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