Major Business Leaders Pledge to Support Debt Reduction Process

Over 100 Business Leaders Endorse CED Statement on Deficit

WASHINGTON, April 21, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Committee for Economic Development (CED), the business-led public policy group that fought the most critical economic battles in Washington over the past seven decades, today pledged to support policymakers who build a serious and comprehensive plan to reduce the federal deficit and urged lawmakers in Washington to participate in a budget process such as that proposed by President Obama on April 13.  

CED's Business Statement on the Nation's Fiscal Health was endorsed by a bipartisan group of 100 of the most senior American business leaders of companies from virtually every major sector in the economy.  In addition, Erskine Bowles and former Senator Alan Simpson -- the co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform  –  and Senator Pete V. Domenici, and Dr. Alice M. Rivlin – the co-chairs of the Debt Reduction Task Force of the Bipartisan Policy Center -- have all endorsed the statement.

CED's Business Statement on the Nation's Fiscal Health makes three main points:

1. The business community strongly supports a comprehensive deficit reduction plan and will actively support members of Congress who help get it enacted.
2. There must be no preconditions for negotiating a budget agreement.  Congressional Republicans and Democrats and the White House must consider all parts of the budget – spending and revenues, domestic and military spending, and entitlements and appropriations.
3. Serious deficit reduction cannot be painless and no one should expect or demand that the spending and revenue provisions they care most about will not be touched.

"Policymakers who advance a comprehensive, no-precondition, everything-on-the-table deficit-reduction plan need to know that their efforts will be appreciated and supported," said Joe Kasputys, founder and chairman of IHS Global Insight.  "The 100 CEOs and other senior executives who signed the CED statement commit to provide that support."

"Our nation has avoided or ignored our exploding debt for too long," said Bowman Cutter, managing director of The Cedars Capital Partners and former deputy director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.  "CED, whose members know the U.S. economy from the ground up, is convinced that President Obama's plan to bring members of Congress together in May to work to enact a plan is the first real opportunity in many years to develop a comprehensive deficit reduction package that is also politically acceptable," he said.  "CED will work hard to make sure that policymakers take advantage of this opportunity."

"Not dealing with the budget problem will mean a lower standard of living for all Americans," said Carl Camden, president and chief executive officer of Kelly Services, Inc.  "The government's debt service bill will quintuple to $1 trillion over the next 10 years if we do not change our ways.  It will raise taxes and crowd out business investment and the most basic government services.  As the changed outlook issued by S&P this week indicates, we dare not squander this opportunity."

Over the coming weeks, the signers of CED's Business Statement on the Nation's Fiscal Health will work nationwide to increase awareness of the need for comprehensive deficit reduction and to encourage support for the policymakers who help make it happen.  

For more details about CED's Business Statement on the Nation's Fiscal Health and the endorsement campaign, go to www.ced.org.

About CED

CED is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of more than 200 business leaders and university presidents. Since 1942, its research and policy programs have addressed many of the nation's most pressing economic and social issues, including education reform, workforce competitiveness, campaign finance, health care, and global trade and finance. CED promotes policies to produce increased productivity and living standards, greater and more equal opportunity for every citizen, and an improved quality of life for all.

SOURCE Committee for Economic Development