Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, Co-Chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, to Headline Opening Keynote Session
Sponsored by:
NGA is pleased to announce Former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson and Former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, who served as co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, as the Opening Session speakers (sponsored by Kraft Foods) at the NGA Show, February 10-13, 2013 in Las Vegas. Click here to read the full press release.
Alan Simpson was elected to the United States Senate in 1978. After a successful first term, he was re-elected in 1984 with 78% of the vote and then again in 1990 to a third term with 65% of the vote. Following his first term in the Senate, Simpson was elected by his peers to the position of the Assistant Majority Leader in 1984—and served Majority Leader Bob Dole in that capacity until 1994. He completed his final term on January 3, 1997.
Erskine Bowles joined the administration of President Bill Clinton as Administrator of the Small Business Administration. In 1993, he was brought to the White House to serve as President Clinton’s Deputy Chief of Staff and later as Chief of Staff. As Chief of Staff, he served as a member of the President’s Cabinet and on both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. Working at the direction of the President and with the Republican House of Representatives and Senate, Bowles negotiated the first balanced budget in a generation.
In 2010, President Barack Obama asked Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles to co-chair the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. This bipartisan commission produced a plan to reduce the Nation’s deficits by $4 trillion over the next decade. The plan was supported by a supermajority of the commission with equal support from both Republican and Democrat members.