US President Barack Obama today signed an executive order creating a long-awaited fiscal commission to propose significant cuts to the government's massive long-term debt, according to dpa. Obama appointed Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator, and Erskine Bowles, chief of staff to former president Bill Clinton, to head the 18-member panel. "These are tough times and we can't keep spending like they're not," Obama said. The commission would help "free our future from the stranglehold of debt." But it remained unclear whether Congress, which will appoint the bulk of its members and have to approve any recommendations, will back the commission. The US Senate rejected creating a similar congressional panel last month, leading Obama to create the commission by executive order instead. Opposition Republicans argued the panel should not be able to recommend tax increases - only spending cuts - and it remained to be seen whether conservative leaders would work with Obama's commission. Obama will get to appoint six members of the commission, including its two co-chairs. Congressional Democrats and Republicans will appoint six members each. The federal government will run a record 1.6-trillion-dollar deficit this budget year, about 10.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), before falling to 1.3 trillion dollars in the 2011 budget, which starts October 1. Obama's budget, presented earlier this month, would lower the federal deficit to 3.9 per cent of GDP by 2015. Over the next 10 years, the average annual deficit will be about 4.5 per cent, well above the consensus target of a deficit below 3 per cent of GDP.
