White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley today encouraged the congressional “super-committee” tasked with crafting a major deficit reduction plan to put out a “bold” proposal.
Daley’s remark came during a wide-ranging interview conducted by CBS News’ Chief White House Correspondent Norah O’Donnell during the first day of the third annual Washington Ideas Forum held at the Newseum in downtown Washington.
The bipartisan, bicameral panel has until roughly Thanksgiving to come up with a plan to shrink the nation’s deficit by at least $1.5 trillion. At that point, the committee must send its recommendations to Congress for an up-or-down vote. Failure by Congress to vote on the plan by Christmas would trigger an automatic spree of cuts to the country’s domestic and defense budgets.
So far, the committee has mostly held its meetings behind closed doors, so it is not well known whether any substantial progress is being made between members. Daley urged the panel to take the following approach.
“Let’s all hold hands and jump off the edge…even if there is no net.”
On other topics, Daley was asked why the two parties don’t seem to be getting along these days. He surmised that the incivility of society in general — where millions of ordinary Americans take their cues from overdramatic reality television shows — is serving as a microcosm for the current hyper-partisanship in Washington.
“There is not the engagement anymore that there used to be,” Daley said, noting that a vast majority of people are “stressed” about the fledging economy.
Asked by O’Donnell whether he is concerned about the U.S. experiencing a double-dip recession, Daley said no. But he admitted that his optmism is based on the belief that European leaders will act soon to handle their debt problems.
Turning to President Obama’s jobs bill, Daley pressed Republicans who oppose the plan to present an alternative. “What are [they] gonna do to fix the economy?” he asked.
Finally, on the question of who the White House is most afraid of running against next year, Daley joked that it would be Chris Christie, who made it fairly clear yesterday that he is staying put as Governor of New Jersey.
Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to Norah O’Donnell as an employee of NBC News. O’Donnell left NBC earlier this year to become CBS News’ Chief White House Correspondent. The story has been updated with the correct information.