Final members named to congressional budget savings committee
The lineup is complete.
U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi today named three Democrats to the special committee charged with finding $1.5 trillion in budget savings, Bloomberg reported.
Pelosi named James Clyburn of South Carolina, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Xavier Becerra of California.
The committee “has a golden opportunity to take its discussions to the higher ground of America’s greatness and its values,” Pelosi said in a statement.
The three House Democrats join House Republicans Dave Camp, Fred Upton and Jeb Hensarling. The Senate team is made up of Republicans Jon Kyl, Pat Toomey and Rob Portman and Democrats Patty Murray, John Kerry and Max Baucus.
Camp said he wouldn’t rule out tax increases if they could boost economic growth, Reuters reported. The head of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee in the House told Reuters that the deepening global financial crisis would prompt him and other committee members to pull together.
“Everything is on the table, until we as a group rule it out,” he said. The economy and jobs are priorities, he added.