No 'economic patriots' in the Michigan congressional delegation

Sam Nunn

The Concord Coalition, a bipartisan group that tried to focus Washington’s attention on the federal debt and deficit long before it became a popular issue, honored 38 “economic patriots” in the U.S. House last week for their courage in voting for a comprehensive, bipartisan deficit reduction plan.
 

And not one member of the Michigan delegation was included in the group. 

Former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, a Concord co-chairman, praised the “Great 38” -- Republicans and Democrats -- for standing up to pressure from colleagues and special interests to support the reform legislation that had been introduced by Reps. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., and Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio.

Their legislation was based on the recommendations of the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission, which called for a mix of spending cuts and tax hikes to cut the deficit. The Cooper-LaTourette bill was the only budget plan to receive bipartisan support in the House this year.

In an era of partisan gridlock that has left the country on a “very dangerous fiscal path,” Nunn said, “such cooperation is all too rare.” He added: “It is not a matter of ideology. It is a matter of simply adding and subtracting, and we in this nation are flunking the course now in arithmetic.”  

The former Georgia senator praised the honorees for “putting their country before their party” and for embodying a “spirit of bipartisanship and fiscal stewardship.”

You can check out the list of 38 honorees here.