As the Nov. 23 deadline for the  “super committee” quickly approaches, don’t expect any real solutions, says Emory University political science professor and national politics expert Merle Black. The committee consists of a panel of 12 Congressional leaders armed with the task of coming up with a deficit-reduction proposal.  

“The ‘super committee’ is kind of a gimmick out of a bad plan that they agreed to,” he explains. “We’ve got a very divided government, they can’t agree on anything, so they create this new committee that most people in the country don’t have any idea what’s going on there. I’m very skeptical anything really powerful is going to come out of that.”  

Can’t fix problems now, elections coming soon

Black believes any proposals put forward from now until November 2012 is purely political posturing, each side angling to win the presidency and hopefully both the Senate and House. The time is coming for true budget deficit solutions, but it won’t happen going into an election year.  

“January [2013], the day after the new president is sworn in or President Obama gets a second term [is when we may see a real plan],” Black says. “Whoever is the president would then be viewed as someone who should have a plan.”

Contact: 404.727.6570 or Merle.Black@emory.edu