Earlier today, the 18 members of the President's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform voted to approve the final version of the proposal issued by the Commission's Co-Chairs, Sen. Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles. The vote was 11-7, short of the 14 votes which, according to the panel's rules, are needed to prompt congressional action.

Failure to reach the 14 vote threshold also means that the Simpson-Bowles proposal is not the Commission’s final report. Yet despite this, the question of federal deficit reduction and controlling the national debt will not go away.  In addition to the Simpson-Bowles proposal -- the final version of which is called "The Moment of Truth" -- seven other major deficit reduction proposals have been released in recent weeks, by foundations, think tanks, and even individual members of the Commission who found serious fault with the panel's work. Links to the various reports are included below.

There is also a large contingent of policy experts who believe that given the nation's troubled economy, discussing ways to control the federal deficit by cutting government spending is absolutely the wrong conversation to be having at this time.

This is the debate of our lifetime. More than Iraq, more than Afghanistan, even more than health care reform, this debate has the potential to impact our nation, and even the world, for decades. None of us can afford to sit this one out. For anyone who doubts this, you need only think back to the November elections. People are worried about their futures and deeply concerned about the role that government will play in healing our nation.

NPP is committed to helping our constituents inform this critical debate. Through our major products such as "the President's Budget" and "Tax Day" we provide a wealth of information on the federal government's priorities and how your tax dollars are spent. Using our "Federal Budget 101" website and webinars we bring you vast amounts of information on the federal budget process and how you can take part in decision-making. Our newest products, NPP's "Jobs, Deficits and Taxes" webinar and our two new blog series "DC Speak" and "On The Block" all focus on demystifying the on-going discussion of these vital topics. Links to NPP resources are also included below.

We cherish your participation, both as participants in the national debate and as drivers of our work.  As our vision statement says, "We hold the vision of an informed and engaged democracy where all people affected by federal spending priorities have the ability and opportunity to shape our nation's budget." We also encourage you to share with us your ideas and suggestions on the kinds of materials that will help you become a better and more effective player at this important time.

DEFICIT REDUCTION PROPOSALS

The Moment of Truth (Final Simpson-Bowles proposal)

http://www.fiscalcommission.gov/sites/fiscalcommission.gov/files/documents/TheMomentofTruth12_1_2010.pdf

 Restoring America's Future (Rivlin-Domenici plan)

http://bipartisanpolicy.org/sites/default/files/FINAL%20DRTF%20REPORT%2011.16.10.pdf

Report by Commission Member Rep. Jan Schakowsky

http://schakowsky.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2777&Itemid=16

Toward Common Ground: Bridging the Political Divide to Reduce Spending (US Public Interest Research Group and the National Taxpayers Union)

https://pincdn.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/322ade49c6ec65dafcb4a8599fe2bd9a/Toward-Common-Ground---a-US-PIRG--National-Taxpayers-Union-report.pdf

 Investing in America’s Economy: A Budget Blueprint for Economic Recovery & Fiscal Responsibility (Demos, Economic Policy Institute, and the Century Fund)

http://www.ourfiscalsecurity.org/storage/Blueprint_OFS.pdf

Getting Back in the Black (Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform)

http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/Economic_Mobility/Peterson-Pew_report_federal_budget_process_reform.pdf

How to Cut $343 Billion from the Federal Budget (Heritage Foundation)

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/10/How-to-Cut-343-Billion-from-the-Federal-Budget

The 21st Century Plan for America’s Leadership (Commission Member Andy Stern)

http://www.comw.org/pda/fulltext/1012sternplan.pdf

NPP MATERIALS

Annual analysis of the President's budget:  NPP's analysis of the FY2011 federal budget spans FY2008 to projected FY2012. The publication offers state-level data for health, education and energy and cross budget category comparisons: http://www.nationalpriorities.org/Presidents_Budget_FY2011.

Tax Day 2010: NPP issued a breakout of the allocation of individual tax-payer dollars, in spending categories which correspond to our President's budget analysis. View the report, as well as our individual tax chart: http://www.nationalpriorities.org/taxday2010.

NPP's Database: Our one-of-a-kind database contains state and local level data on federal spending and correlated social well-being indicators. In 2010/11, NPP broke ground on the Data 2.0 Project to overhaul the database and its contents in partnership with Sunlight Labs and Forum One. Due for completion early in 2011, this work will greatly expand the usability of NPP's information: http://www.nationalpriorities.org/nppdatabase_tool.

Federal Budget 101 on the website: A comprehensive guide to the federal budget with associated charts: http://www.nationalpriorities.org/charts and http://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget_briefs.

Data for Democracy webinars: This initiative is dedicated to helping our constituents use NPP's localized federal spending data and tools more effectively. Launched recently with the webinar Out of Balance, the feedback on this series is incredibly positive. State-level figures are available to help participants “bring home” the webinar's main messages. Out of Balance's success prompted us to hasten the development of Federal Budget 101 and Jobs, Deficits & Taxes, available here: http://nationalpriorities.org/en/resources/webinars/.