In the politics of the United States, the Gang of Six refers to one of three bipartisan groups of six Senators consisting of three Democrats and three Republicans. One group, active in 2009, focused on health care reform in the United States during the 111th United States Congress. A different group, active in 2011, followed up the compromise on the United States public debt from the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. A third group, active in 2018, was focused on the Senate immigration debate.
During 2009, the Gang of Six consisted of six members of the Senate Finance Committee of the 111th United States Congress who attempted to negotiate a compromise to pass a health care reform bill. [1] Among the bills under consideration at the time were the United States National Health Care Act, the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, the Healthy Americans Act (Wyden–Bennett), and the America's Healthy Future Act (Baucus plan).
The six states the legislators represented – Iowa, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Wyoming – had a combined population of 8.4 million, about the same as New York City, or 2.74 percent of the United States as a whole. [2] [3]
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As of 2011 [update] , the Gang of Six was led by Democrat Mark Warner and Republican Saxby Chambliss and included four members of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. [4]
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In July 2011, the Gang of Six proposed a solution to the US debt ceiling crisis. The compromise would reduce future increases in the deficit by USD $3.7 trillion over ten years and was praised by President Barack Obama. [7] [8] The deficit figure quoted represents an estimated reduction in the continued growth of the debt. It also has been met with criticism from congressional Republicans [9] [10] and conservative groups for being, according to The Heritage Foundation, "heavy on tax hikes and promises of spending cuts, but devoid of details on how to make the sweeping transformative changes needed to solve our debt and spending crises." [11]
A bipartisan group of six senators proposed changes to border security and immigration laws. [12] [13] [14] This group comprised a rump of the similarly named Gang of Eight. Chuck Schumer (New York) became the Senate Minority Leader in January 2017 (later becoming the Senate Majority Leader in January 2021 after Democrats took the Senate majority) and John McCain (Arizona) was sidelined due to health issues that had been impacting him since July 2017 before eventually passing away from those health issues in August 2018.
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Maxwell Sieben Baucus is an American politician who served as a United States senator from Montana from 1978 to 2014. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a U.S. senator for over 35 years, making him the longest-serving U.S. senator in Montana history. President Barack Obama appointed Baucus to replace Gary Locke as the 11th U.S. Ambassador to the People's Republic of China, a position he held from 2014 until 2017.
Clarence Saxby Chambliss is an American lawyer and retired politician who was a United States Senator from Georgia from 2003 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a U.S. Representative from 1995 to 2003.
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Susan Margaret Collins is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, she has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine's longest-serving member of Congress.
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The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is a congressional caucus affiliated with the Democratic Party in the United States Congress. The CPC represents the furthest left faction of the Democratic Party. It was founded in 1991 and has grown since then, becoming the second-largest Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives.
John McCain ran for U.S. president in the 2000 presidential election, but failed to gain the Republican Party nomination, losing to George W. Bush in a campaign that included a bitter battle during the South Carolina primary. He resumed his role representing Arizona in the U.S. Senate in 2001, and Bush won the election. Bush was President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. McCain won re-election to the Senate in 2004, 2010 and 2016.
Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nominee John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Four years later, in the 2012 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee Mitt Romney, to win re-election. Obama is the first African American president, the first multiracial president, the first non-white president, and the first president born in Hawaii. Obama was succeeded by Republican Donald Trump, who won the 2016 presidential election. Historians and political scientists rank him among the upper tier in historical rankings of American presidents.
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The history of health care reform in the United States has spanned many decades with health care reform having been the subject of political debate since the early part of the 20th century. Recent reforms remain an active political issue. Alternative reform proposals were offered by both of the major candidates in the 2008, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) is a non-profit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. that addresses federal budget and fiscal issues. It was founded in 1981 by former United States Representative Robert Giaimo (D-CT) and United States Senator Henry Bellmon (R-OK), and its board of directors includes past heads of the House and Senate Budget Committees, the Congressional Budget Office, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Government Accountability Office.
A health insurance cooperative is a cooperative entity that has the goal of providing health insurance and is also owned by the people that the organization insures. It is a form of mutual insurance.
The America's Healthy Future Act was a bill proposed by Democratic Senator Max Baucus of Montana, who chaired the Senate Finance Committee, on September 16, 2009. It is also colloquially known as the Baucus Health Bill, the Baucus Health Plan, or BaucusCare. Baucus initially publicly released a 223-page summary of the proposal. It started going through the Senate mark-up process on September 22. That amendment process finished Oct. 2, and was passed by the Finance Committee on October 13 by a 14 to 9 vote,. An October CBO report stated that enacting the proposal would, on net, end up reducing the federal deficit by $81 billion over the 2010–2019 period.
The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 is a law that was enacted by the 111th United States Congress, by means of the reconciliation process, in order to amend the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The law includes the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which was attached as a rider.
The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform was a bipartisan Presidential Commission on deficit reduction, created in 2010 by President Barack Obama to identify "policies to improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run". The 18-member Commission, consisting of 12 members of Congress and six private citizens, first met on April 27, 2010. A report was released on December 1, recommending a combination of spending cuts and tax increases.
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The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, colloquially referred to as the Supercommittee, was a joint select committee of the United States Congress, created by the Budget Control Act of 2011 on August 2, 2011. This act was intended to prevent the sovereign default that could have resulted from the 2011 United States debt-ceiling crisis. The objective of the committee was to develop a deficit reduction plan over 10 years in addition to the $917 billion of cuts and initial debt limit increase of $900 billion in the Budget Control Act of 2011 that avoided a U.S. sovereign default. The committee recommendation was to have been subject to a simple vote by the full legislative bodies without amendment; this extraordinary provision was included to limit partisan gridlock. The goal outlined in the Budget Control Act of 2011 was to cut at least $1.5 trillion over the coming 10 years, therefore bypassing Congressional debate and resulting in a passed bill by December 23, 2011. On November 21, the committee concluded its work, issuing a statement that began with the following: "After months of hard work and intense deliberations, we have come to the conclusion today that it will not be possible to make any bipartisan agreement available to the public before the committee's deadline." The committee was formally terminated on January 31, 2012.
The Budget Control Act of 2011 is a federal statute enacted by the 112th United States Congress and signed into law by US President Barack Obama on August 2, 2011. The Act brought conclusion to the 2011 US debt-ceiling crisis.
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In January 2013, the United States reached the, at the time, debt ceiling of $16.394 trillion that had been enacted following a crisis in 2011. President Obama and members of the Democratic Party proposed raising the debt ceiling, with some advocating for its complete dismissal. Members of the Republican Party staunchly opposed raising the debt ceiling unless spending cuts would parallel the bill, including defunding the Affordable Care Act. Previous raises of the debt ceiling have been largely bipartisan without conditions.
A BIPARTISAN PLAN TO REDUCE OUR NATION’S DEFICITS – 2011 proposal