11.16.11

Murkowski to Super Committee: “Let’s Get the Job Done”

With a Week Until Deadline, Senator Joins 150 Lawmakers Pushing for Deal

WASHINGTON, D.C. –With growing urgency and a rise in bicameral, bipartisan support for a long-term deal, Senator Murkowski today pressed the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction’s 12 members to reach an agreement that finds at least $1.2 trillion in savings over the next 10 years.

At a U.S. Capitol press conference (footage below), the Senator stood alongside approximately 50 lawmakers on behalf of the over 150 members of the Senate and the House who are encouraging the “Super Committee” to make the difficult decisions and come to a bipartisan agreement before their deadline next Wednesday.

After the press conference, Senator Murkowski told the Super Committee that “We’ve got your back. Go big and go bold for the good of the country.” (Click for video; transcript below)

 

    

Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)                     

“We’ve got your back”                                      

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)

“Be bolder in your mission”

 

Transcript of Senator Murkowski’s thoughts about the debt and deficit discussions:

“Whether you’re from an urban state or a rural state, a Republican lawmaker or a Democratic lawmaker, we’ve got an obligation to come together to take on the very difficult problem facing our nation: We’re fifteen trillion dollars in debt. The Joint Committee is tasked with an extraordinarily difficult job – to find the reduction in savings.  It’s hard but it is not impossible.

“And as 150 member gathered together – bicameral and bipartisan – to back the group of twelve, to say ‘Let’s get the job done.’ Let’s put aside the partisan differences. Let’s put aside the political issues. Let’s focus on how we’re going to address the needs of the country.


“We came together to give strength, to give backing, to give support to this group that has been tasked with a pretty tall order. I’m hopeful that the twelve that are gathered in a private room will feel that support and that strength from 150 of us who came together publicly to say ‘We’ve got your back. Go big and go bold for the good of the country.”

 

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