PBS Nightly Business Report

April 13, 2011

The president called on congressional leaders from both parties to begin holding regular meetings with the vice president, producing a deficit reduction plan by the end of June. To enforce that agreement, the president is calling for a debt fail safe. That fail safe would trigger automatic cuts in spending and increases in taxes if the nation`s public debt has not stabilized by 2014. Steve Bell was a senior Republican Senate staffer during the budget battles of the `80s. He says tough budget enforcement like that has been missing for more than a decade.

STEVE BELL, SR. POLICY DIRECTOR, BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER: You need to have some teeth to cause some pain or the folks on the Hill -- either party -- just will really not do it.

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Economic Policy Project