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Fact Sheet about Enact the Plan Inc.

Citizens for Enacting the Simpson-Bowles Plan

2010 National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform

Fact Sheet

WHO: Citizens for Enacting The Simpson-Bowles Plan, a grassroots organization launched by Franklin, Tennessee resident Tim Pagliara to urge Congress and the President to urgently reconsider moving Simpson-Bowles forward.

WHAT: The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Simpson-Bowles) is a bipartisan group commissioned by President Obama in 2010 to study the nation's fiscal challenges and recommend solutions. The group met for 8 months in 2010, studying reams of cold, hard data and concluded that America is on an unsustainable fiscal path. The Commission "put everything on the table" and outlined difficult – but necessary -- steps to ensure the country does not go broke. We believe the plan has great merit.

WHY THE DEBT: Reckless spending and falling revenues have led to massive borrowing by our government. Since the last time our country's budget was balanced in 2001, the federal debt has increased from 33% to 102% of GDP, the highest it's been since the end of World War II, when it was 120% of GDP. At this rate, some time before 2025, revenue will be able to finance only interest payments, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Money for our nation's defense, Homeland Security, transportation, energy and other needs will need to be borrowed from countries that might not share our strategic interests. We believe that's unacceptable.

WHY THE PLAN: The plan was truly bipartisan and represents a sound strategy that begins to address America's out-of-control debt and spending. Said the report: "None of us likes every element of our plan, and each of us had to tolerate provisions we previously or presently oppose in order to reach a principled compromise. We were willing to put our differences aside to forge a plan because our nation will certainly be lost without one." While government leaders have ignored Simpson-Bowles for more than a year, our country has continued to drown in ever-growing debt. As a concerned American, Tim Pagliara felt he must do something to alert his fellow citizens to the seriousness of the situation and the sensible solution that stands before us.

WE BELIEVE:

• That the country's current fiscal direction is unsustainable and unacceptable.
• That our leaders have failed us because they won't address the situation or Plan.
• That the Simpson-Bowles Plan is the best opportunity to begin to resolve the problem.
• That citizens must act by demanding movement forward on this Plan.

The group has developed a Web site that simplifies the plan so Americans can better understand it… and suggests steps they can take to voice their concern. A series of ads in the Tennessean over the next number of weeks should drive attention to the Web site and Report. We're asking citizens to contact their legislators.

NEXT STEPS: With a positive reaction here in Tennessee, we plan to move this effort to other states.

Key Players

Citizens for Enacting the Simpson-Bowles Plan

2010 National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform

The Players

Erskine Bowles, co-chair, 2010 National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform

A businessman and politician from North Carolina, Bowles served from 1997 to 1998 as White House Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton, where one of his major responsibilities was dealing with the federal budget negotiations between the White House and Congress. Most recently, he served as the President of the University of North Carolina system (2005 to 2010). He also ran unsuccessfully for a North Carolina United States Senate seat in 2002 and 2004. His business experience includes serving in 1993 as the head of the Small Business Administration and founder of the investment bank Carousel Capital. He is a member of the board of directors of General Motors, Morgan Stanley and North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company and serves on the North Carolina Advisory Board of DonorsChoose.

Alan Simpson, co-chair, 2010 National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform

A politician from Wyoming who served from 1979 to 1997 in the U.S. Senate, Simpson has held a number of chairmanships while in Congress, including the Veteran's Affairs Committee, Immigration and Refugee Subcommittee of Judiciary; the Nuclear Regulation Subcommittee; the Social Security Subcommittee and the Committee on Aging. From 1997 to 2000, he taught at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and, for two years, as Director of the School's Institute of Politics. Today, he practices law in his home town of Cody, Wyoming and periodically teaches at the University of Wyoming at Laramie. He has also served as on various commissions, including the Commission for Continuity in Government, Americans for Campaign Reform and the Iraq Study Group.

Commission Members

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT); Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA 31); Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI 4); Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK); Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND); David Cote, Chairman and CEO, Honeywell International; Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID); Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL); Ann Fudge, Former CEO, Young & Rubicam Brands; Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH); Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX 5); Alice Rivlin, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institute and former Director, Office of Management & Budget; Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI 1); Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL 9); Rep. John Spratt (D-SC 5); Andrew Stern, President, Service Employees International Union; Executive Director: Bruce Reed, Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Clinton

Tim Pagliara, Citizens for Enacting The Bowles-Simpson Plan

Just named by Barron's as the top financial advisor in the state of Tennessee, Pagliara is chairman and CEO of CapWealth Advisors, a fee-based investment advisory firm with $700 million under management that provides wealth management services to high net worth individuals and families. A highly regarded veteran of the securities industry, Pagliara began his finance career in 1981 as a Limited Partner with Edward Jones, opening the firm's first branch in Franklin. In 1989, he joined Hilliard Lyons and established a second operation for the company in Franklin. He formed the predecessor to CapWealth -- Capital Trust Wealth Management -- in Franklin in early 2000. Pagliara earned a BA degree from St. Louis University (1979), a J.D. degree from St. Louis University School of Law (1983) and is a graduate of the Wharton School Securities Industry Institute at the University of Pennsylvania (1993). He is also a member of the Tennessee Bar Association. He previously made the Barron'sTop 1,000 list in 2009 and 2010.

Franklin Businessman Challenges Legislators to Enact Simpson-Bowles