Shuler: Revive fiscal commission plan for up-or-down vote

The Hill

A prominent Blue Dog Democrat pushed Friday for an up-or-down vote in Congress on the plan produced by President Obama's fiscal commission.

Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), a member of the centrist bloc who's taken a leading role in speaking on behalf of the Blue Dogs, said he wanted a vote on the plan produced last year by the fiscal commission, which called for a series of spending cuts and entitlement and tax reforms.

"Let's all agree to put the deficit commission on the table," Shuler said in a video interview with CBS News. "Let's vote on it, let's have an up-or-down vote. That's a bipartisan piece of legislation that was very successful to get members on both sides to agree."

The fiscal commission's proposal failed to win the necessary 14 out of 18 members' votes to force a House and Senate vote on the plan. Many of the House's most liberal and conservative lawmakers who sat on the commission voted against the final proposals.

The commission's proposals did prove to be the starting point for bipartisan negotiations on a similar plan between six senators — three Democrats, three Republicans — which could conceivably lead to a long-term tax and spending plan.

The debt situation is serious enough that lawmakers should be willing to lose their jobs over a vote to address it, Shuler said, which is likely to be a tough sell for many of his colleagues.

"If it means that we cast votes that are very difficult, and it cost us our election, that is what we're sent here to do," he said. "If it costs us our jobs, and we do the right thing, I truly believe in the next 10 years, that the people will look back and say, 'That was the best Congress to have ever served,' even if we all lose our jobs."