Pelosi Names Three To Finalize Debt ‘Super Committee’

Pelosi Names Three To Finalize Debt ‘Super Committee’

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

The 12 members of the Debt “Super Committee” are now official, as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi named her three appointees Thursday. She chose Reps. James Clyburn of South Carolina, Xavier Becerra of California, and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.

As reported here yesterday, the other nine members have already been chosen. Here’s the full panel lineup:

  • Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) - co-chair
  • Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI)
  • Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI)
  • Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) - co-chair
  • Sen. Max Baucus (D-MN)
  • Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)
  • Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
  • Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA)
  • Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)
  • Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC)
  • Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA)
  • Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

The special congressional committee has until Thanksgiving to come up with a plan to shave $1.2 trillion off the federal deficit over the next decade. If it fails to do so, automatic cuts will kick in.

Announcing her picks, Pelosi told the AP, “We must achieve a ‘grand bargain’ that reduces the deficit by addressing our entire budget, while strengthening Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.”

As the AP reports, “critics noted that none of the Senate’s so-called Gang of Six, a bipartisan group of senators who proposed trillions inspending cuts and tax boosts this year, was named to the panel.”

Copyright 2011 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.