More than one-third of Senate urges debt panel to cut $4 trillion

Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) announced Thursday that he had organized a coalition of 36 senators to encourage the congressional “super committee” to seek the broadest possible agreement to address the nation’s spending and debt.

The coalition -- made up of 18 Republicans, 17 Democrats and one Independent -- represents more than one-third of the members of the U.S. Senate.

“Our 11th hour Gang of Six agreement to eliminate $3.7 trillion from the national debt came too late to be considered as part of the early August deadline to raise the debt limit, but the tough fiscal choices that our nation faces continue to get more difficult every day,” Warner said. “The 12 members of the super committee have been tasked with reaching a bipartisan consensus on a plan to begin eliminating $1.5 trillion from our debt over the next ten years. Frankly, that’s not nearly bold enough to truly fix our nation’s balance sheet.”

The senators urged the debt committee to:

1.) Include enough deficit reduction to stabilize the debt as a share of the economy, and put the debt on a downward path, and provide fiscal certainty. We believe a reasonable target is at least $4 trillion, including previously enacted deficit measures. This will send the right message to the financial markets.

2.) Use the established, bipartisan debt and deficit reduction frameworks as a starting point for discussions.

3.) Focus on the major parts of the budget and include long-term entitlement reforms and pro-growth tax reform.

4.) Be structured to grow the economy in the short, medium and long-term.

5.) Work to include the American public and the business community in a broader discussion about the breadth of the issues, challenges and opportunities facing us.

Watch video, uploaded to YouTube on September 15, 2011, below: