Local Politics

Report: Bowles to head Obama deficit panel

Outgoing UNC President Erskine Bowles is in line to chair a bipartisan commission to solve the federal government's budget problems, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

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UNC President Erskine Bowles
WASHINGTON — Outgoing University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles is in line to chair a bipartisan commission to solve the federal government's budget problems, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Bowles announced last Friday that he would step down from his post overseeing the state's 16 public universities by the end of the year. He has headed the UNC system since January 2006.

President Barack Obama plans to name Bowles and Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, to lead the commission on Thursday, when he intends to sign an executive order creating the panel, the newspaper said, citing an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The commission will be charged with coming up with a plan to raise taxes and cut federal spending to significantly reduce projected budget deficits by 2015.

Bowles, who served as chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton, said last week that he didn't want to involve himself in partisan politics again.

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