Deficit reduction: the states' priorities.

• Position: TRENDS & TRANSITIONS

What's at stake here to me is the future of our country," said Colorado Senator Ellen Roberts. With states already having to cope with balanced budget requirements, they don't need Congress exporting national budget issues and tough policy choices to them, she said.

"The federal government is going to have to reduce the deficit, and we all know where that typically lands--on the states."

Legislators and staff, members of NC SL's bipartisan Budget Deficit Reduction Task Force, came to the nation's Capitol in September to lay out the states' priorities and urge members of the congressional "super committee" working to find $1.5 trillion in savings not to merely shift the financial burden to the states.

"We're here on Capitol Hill to articulate the perspective of state legislators. This is serious business with tremendously negative consequences if we don't succeed," said New Hampshire Representative Terie Norelli, co-chair of the task force. "Everything has to be on the table."

The NCSL delegation urged members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to examine all possible areas--discretionary spending, entitlements and revenues--for help in reducing the deficit.

Former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson, who co-chaired the president's Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, shared his insights on achieving comprehensive federal fiscal reform with the task force before its congressional meetings. He offered advice on how states can be an effective and recognized voice in the debate.

States' priorities include no new unfunded federal mandates, relief from...