Legislators Introduce Competing Entitlement Commission Proposals

The 110th Congress is barely two months old, but several lawmakers have introduced proposals to create "entitlement commissions" that would be charged with formulating policies to address projected long-term fiscal challenges in Social Security and Medicare. The plans have surfaced just as there are increasing concerns on Capitol Hill about the fiscal gap — that is, the amount of spending reduction or tax increases needed to keep the national debt as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) at or below the current ratio.

There are currently three plans [1]:

• A still unnamed commission, proposed by Sens. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Judd Gregg (R-NH)
• National Commission on Entitlement Solvency, proposed by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Pete Domenici (R-NM)
• Securing America's Future Economy ("SAFE"), proposed by Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA)

All three proposed commissions are structured to be nominally bipartisan, consisting of seven Republicans and seven Democrats, but each plan calls for additional members to be either appointed by the president or be representatives of the administration. The commissions are similar in mandate, requiring that proposed legislation be approved by a supermajority of commission members and requiring Congress to act on proposals submitted by the commission within a specified timeframe.

However, each proposal has its own unique methodology. For instance, the Feinstein-Domenici plan would create a permanent commission that makes recommendations to Congress every five years, while the Voinovich-Wolf plan would disband after submitting its final proposal to Congress. Additionally, the Voinovich-Wolf plan calls for the commission to conduct town-hall style meetings for a year and report the public's views in its report to Congress.

Details of all proposed commissions, with the exception of the Conrad-Gregg plan, can be found on their sponsoring senators' websites (links at right). Conrad and Gregg have been circumspect in promulgating details of their plans, as all information in a comparison chart prepared by OMB Watch was obtained from media reports and transcripts of Senate Budget Committee hearings. It is possible that Conrad will include some more details of his commission proposal in the upcoming budget resolution.

For a detailed summary of each of the commission proposals, see this chart [1].