We tried what Elon Musk is doing with federal spending once before, on Obama's watch episode artwork

EPISODE · Feb 7, 2025 · 34 MIN

We tried what Elon Musk is doing with federal spending once before, on Obama's watch

from The Smerconish Podcast · host Jan Schakowsky, Michael Smerconish

While Elon Musk and his "Department of Government Efficiency" are slashing areas of federal spending to combat the current national debt ($36 trillion) and the current fiscal year's deficit ($711 billion), we remember going through something similar back in 2010: Simpson-Bowles, known as "The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform." There were 12 members of Congress and 6 private citizens on the commission. In the end, they failed to get the required super-majority vote to advance their recommendations to Congress. Michael today speaks with Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), who sat on the committee, and voted against the commission's recommendations 15 years ago. Then, hear from the audience on the current fiscal state of the United States. Original air date 7 February 2025. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

While Elon Musk and his "Department of Government Efficiency" are slashing areas of federal spending to combat the current national debt ($36 trillion) and the current fiscal year's deficit ($711 billion), we remember going through something similar back in 2010: Simpson-Bowles, known as "The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform." There were 12 members of Congress and 6 private citizens on the commission. In the end, they failed to get the required super-majority vote to advance their recommendations to Congress. Michael today speaks with Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), who sat on the committee, and voted against the commission's recommendations 15 years ago. Then, hear from the audience on the current fiscal state of the United States. Original air date 7 February 2025.

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We tried what Elon Musk is doing with federal spending once before, on Obama's watch

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While Elon Musk and his "Department of Government Efficiency" are slashing areas of federal spending to combat the current national debt ($36 trillion) and the current fiscal year's deficit ($711 billion), we remember going through something similar...

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