Erskine Bowles, Alan Simpson to Lead Obama's Deficit Commission

(CBS/iStockPhoto)

President Obama on Thursday will sign an executive order establishing the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (previously known as the deficit commission). He will also announce the commission's co-chairs, according to a senior administration official, CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller reports.

The president will appoint former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former Republican Senate Whip Alan Simpson will serve as co-chairs, a senior official confirms to CBS News.

Bowles, currently president of the University of North Carolina, served as White House chief of staff under former President Clinton from 1996 to 1998. He brokered the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, with the Republican leadership in Congress, helping to generate the first balanced budget in nearly 30 years.

Simpson represented Wyoming in the Senate from 1979 to 1997. From 1985 to 1995, he was the Republican whip in the Senate, and he chaired the Senate Finance Committee's Subcommittee on Social Security. He now practices law in Wyoming.

Stephanie Condon

Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.

Twitter Facebook

More from CBS News