sarah binder. >> i thought i would start with three points about commercial -- congressional commission is in general and this committee and the implications of the membership of the joint committee. the first point. specially appointed commissions typically fail. i want us to understand why these committees tend not to work. the supercommittee has differed from previous incarnations of congressional committees. it is important to understand why it differs and why those differences might be consequential. the membership has a number of implications for what is likely or not likely to happen this fall. i want to think about how the leaders made their selections and how we can infer from the make up. why do committees typically fail? what can we learn from what we know about the panel? it is not unusual for congress to kick the can down the road when it is unable to solve tough problems. there are plenty of examples. the medicare commission in 1993 and entitlement commission in 1997 and the simpson bulls commission in 2010. none succeeded in producing a plan that the house and senate woul

whenever congress cannot make a decision, they appoint a committee or a commissioner, and sarah binderwill describe that and talk about this particular committee. then, we will turn super william gale, who is a great return to -- turned to go william gale who was the author of several versions of the deficit and 10- year projections with all kinds of interesting base lines. he can produce baseline's festive and congress can pass legislation. he had this thing out about a minute and half after. shockingly, he will talk about baselines, and it turns out they are a very, very big deal, and completely unresolved as far as i can tell. then, we will turn to henry aaron. he will say that we have the all wrong, the president has it wrong, congress has it wrong, and you'll tell us what we should do instead. finally, we will turn to my good friend, bill frenzel. for those under the age of 60 might not be as familiar with bill frenzel that he was in congress for 20 years, a ranking member of the budget committee for several terms, and knows as much about the budget as anyone i have encountered. i

whenever congress cannot make a decision, they appoint a committee or a commissioner, and sarah binder that and talk about this particular committee. then, we will turn to william gale who was the author of several versions of the deficit and 10-year projections with all kinds of interesting base lines. he can produce baseline's festive and congress can pass legislation. he had this thing out about a minute and half after. shockingly, he will talk about baselines, and it turns out they are a very, very big deal, and completely unresolved as far as i can tell. then, we will turn to henry aaron. he will say that we have the all wrong, the president has it wrong, congress has it wrong, and you'll tell us what we should do instead. finally, we will turn to my good friend, bill frenzel. for those under the age of 60 might not be as familiar with bill frenzel that he was in congress for 20 years, a ranking member of the budget committee for several terms, and knows as much about the budget as anyone i have encountered. is a guest scholar at brookings. he is going to talk about the politics o

sarah binder. >> thank you and thanks for including me. thought i would talk about congressional committees in general and a little bit about the implications of the membership of the joint committee. specially appointed congressional commitment -- congressional commissions typically fail. the supercommittee differs quite a bit from congressional committees. it is important to talk about why the differences might be consequential. the membership of the committee has a number of applications about what is likely to happen in the fall. i spent time looking at how the leaders made their selections and what we can infer from the makeup. first, why do committees typically fail and what is different this time around and what we can learn -- what can we learn? wire they prone to fail? it is not unusual for -- why are they promise to failed? it is not unusual for congress to kick the can down the road. there was the simpson-bowles committee. they did not succeed in producing a plan that could be forwarded to congress. even when we do see success,

and we'll be joined by sarah binder from the brookings institution to look at how the proposed super committee to cut federal spending compares to other commissions appointed by congress and the president. host: good morning. it's friday, august 5, 2011. you're watching "washington journal." yesterday, everyone knows the dow in this country dropped by 513 points. the asian stock markets are tumbling this morning. fears the u.s. might be heading back into a recession and europe's debt crisis is worsening. and all eyes are on the new jobless numbers, which will be out at 8:30 eastern time this morning. amidst all this economic news, we're going to peg off a question asked by ezra klein in "the washington post" this morning, where will the recovery come from? we'd like to hear your thoughts on this. phone lines are open, 202-624-1115 for republicans. 202-624-1111 for democrats. independents, 202-624-0760. you can also send messages by facebook, twitter, and email. we look forward to your discussion on where will a recovery come from. good morning. friday morning. want to show you the fu

host: let me introduce you to sarah binder, a political science professor in washington, d.c., at georgehington university. she is also at the brookings institution, a fellow in governance studies. our topic is to learn more about the experience this country has had with special committees and commissions, such as the want it has now created for handling the data and deficit -- handling the debt and deficit. i was struck by a headline in this morning's "washington times." "politics in every choice facing deficit panel." my reaction was, as in every committee -- hasn't ever committee at truces to make? committee haty choices to make? guest: absolutely. just because the committee is treated as not make the work any easier. host: they have been around for a very long time. even in the 1800's, congress was creating a special committees. do you have a sense of in the modern age how often at they have been successful? guest: if we had a comprehensive list and were able to figure out which ones work and which ones did not, the larger history is that they tend not to work could having said that,

host: let me introduce you to sarah binder, a political science professor in washington, d.c., at george washington university. she is also at the brookings institution, a fellow in governance studies. our topic is to learn more about the experience this country has had with special committees and commissions, such as the want it has now created for handling the data and deficit -- handling the debt and deficit. i was struck by a headline in this morning's "washington times." "politics in every choice facing deficit panel." my reaction was, as in every committee -- hasn't ever committee at truces to make? committee haty choices to make? guest: absolutely. just because the committee is treated as not make the work any easier. host: they have been around for a very long time. even in the 1800's, congress was creating a special committees. do you have a sense of in the modern age how often at they have been successful? guest: if we had a comprehensive list and were able to figure out which ones work and which ones did not, the larger history is that they tend not to work could having said t

then, we will turn to sarah binder, a senior fellow here at bookings. she is an expert on congress and on legislative politics, and she will talk about the history of supercommittee spirit it is sad to think that there actually have been previous committees like this one. it seems when congress cannot make a decision or force itself to the right thing, they need to appoint a committee or commission or so forth. sarah will describe that and talk a little bit about this particular committee and how it will operate. and, we will turn to bill, the great expert on taxes. he also is the author of several versions of the deficit and 10- year projections with all kinds of interesting baselines. in fact, bill can produce baseline's faster than congress can pass legislation. i think he had this thing out about a minute and a half -- after they reached agreement, a bill comes out with a baseline. shockingly, he is going to talk about baselines, and it turns out they are a very big deal and completely unresolved as far as i can tell. then, we will turn to henry and

sarah binder. >> gracias. of what to start all with three points about congressional committees in general and a little bit about the application for the membership of the joint committee. a specially appointed congressional commission normally fails. i want to talk a little bit about what they tend not to work. second, this committee the first a bit from the first incarnation. it is important to understand why it differs but why those differences might be consequential. third, membership in the committee has a number of applications for what is likely or not likely to happen this fall. first, why did committee typically fail? what is the for this time around and what can we learn? it is not unusual for congress to kick the can down the road when it is unable to solve long- term problems. there are clear the of examples. there was a commission in 1993, the entitlement commission in 1997, the simpson bowles commission in 2010 -- none succeeded in producing a plan that would be afforded to the house and senate t

with marie johns, department administrator small business administration, and we'll be joined by sarah binder from the brookings institution to look at how the proposed super committee to cut federal spending compares to other commissions appointed by congress and the president. "washington journal" is live on c-span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> this month, >> this month c-span airs the final releases of the johnson library. this saturday hear conversations. >> hear conversations from richard russell and dean rusk. >> i'm trying as hard as i know how to get peace in vietnam as quickly as i can. for that reason i am not running. >> listen to c-span radio in the baltimore/dc area, online at cspanradio.org. >> the head of customs and border protections says the u.s. is moving toward what he calls satisfactory control of the u.s.-mexico border. allen burson was one of the speakers at the event hosted by the americans for progress. this is an hour and a half. >> i think we'll get started. welcome, everybody. my name is marshall fitz, i'm the director of immigration policy here at the center