America's debt tops $34 trillion, but a commission to address it appears dead in Congress

WASHINGTON — For Mike Johnson it was effectively a Day 1 priority.It's well past time, the newly elected House speaker said in October, to establish a bipartisan commission to tackle the federal government's growing $34.6 trillion in debt. 'The consequences if we don’t act now are unbearable,” he said, echoing warnings from his predecessor and other House Republicans.

The last fiscal commission over a decade ago — chaired by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson — recommended $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the course of a decade through a combination of tax increases and painful spending cuts. But the 11-7 vote in favor of the package was not enough to force Congress to consider it back in 2010.

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