Senate Rejects Deficit Commission

A sign that the GOP, despite its complaints, is not particularly serious about bipartisanship or the deficit: A Republican filibuster killed a plan in the Senate to create a bipartisan commission to tackle the nation’s budget problems. The rejected commission would have been given powers to change the tax code and cut spending on entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. The commission’s findings would also have been guaranteed an up-or-down vote in both chambers of Congress before year’s end. The Senate might still consider a similar plan, in which lawmakers could change the commission’s recommendations; alternatively, President Obama could create such a panel by executive order.