The deficit commission released its final report this morning, which members will vote on Friday. At this point it seems doubtful that the proposal will get the 14 votes necessary to send it to Congress for approval. In the meantime, commission co-chair and former GOP senator Alan Simpson offered some insight, and some choice words for the commission’s critics, at yesterday’s press conference on Capitol Hill:

On the plan’s significance:

“At least we put the horse on the track with this, and people of America seem to be ready to put the silk on and put the saddle on and put the jockey on and move this baby.”

On lobbying members for support:

“We haven’t been on our knees trying to beat up anybody, we just say if it doesn’t happen it doesn’t happen. At least we got two votes, which is really progress I thought.”

On uncertainty over the Bush tax rates:

“We’ve been well aware of that and we’ve worked it into our efforts. I don’t know where they’re going with it, but we’re prepared to handle that in our work…there will be numbers that will change that will be done by the legislators. We have no idea where that’s going but we know that we’ve considered it.”

On Tea Party freshman and the debt limit:

“When the budget comes up, when the debt limit comes up, there is going to be the most extraordinary struggling that this country has ever witnessed because there’s going to be many of the new people especially who will say ‘I’m not going to vote to extend the debt limit unless you cut spending.’ ‘Fine, I came here for that,’ they’re going to say.
They’ll say ‘but if you don’t raise the debt limit, then this country may lose its position in giving full faith and credit to its bonds and its treasury bills and we may have to close the government’ and some of those people are going to say ‘That’s what I came here for.’ And at that point there is going to be the most dramatic reductions in spending, but it will be random at best and it won’t be as orderly as we think this plan is…so hang on tight.”

On the plan’s more vigorous opponents:

“The far left and the far right have hired auditoriums to terrorize their minions. They’re going to rip this thing to shreds, and do it with zeal. [We define] a zealot [as] one who, having forgotten his purpose, redoubles his efforts. There are plenty of zealots out here. But let me tell you, one thing you need to know that we are not balancing the books of America on the backs of poor Social Security recipients, I mean that’s babble.”

On raising the retirement age:

“If you can’t raise the retirement age to 68 in 2050, when they know that in 2037 if you do nothing you’re going to waddle up to the window and find out your check is 22 percent less. How smart is that?”

On the run-up to Friday’s vote:

“We will listen now in the next few days for the same old crap I’ve been dealing with in all my public life: emotion, fear, guilt and racism. And when people use emotion, fear, guilt and racism on you, you use facts on them, which really irritates them. And so…off we go.”