BOISE — The potential failure of a lame-duck Congress to reduce a multitrillion-dollar federal debt later this year would send the United States economy “hurtling over a fiscal cliff right into a recession,” a director from a nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based fiscal policy think tank said Monday.

    Maya MacGuineas during a public event attended by top-level Idaho politicians in a standing-room-only hearing room at the Idaho Capitol Building said the U.S. Congress needs to make some progress after the November election to avert an economic downturn for the U.S.

    “My only concern is, if we don’t do something during the lame-duck (congressional session), we’re going and hurtling over a fiscal cliff right into a recession,” said MacGuineas, director of the Fiscal Policy Program at D.C.’s New America Foundation.

    MacGuineas, primarily billed as “President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget,” was responding to a comment by First District Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, who was substituting at the “press conference” for Second District Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, who was unable to attend. Labrador said he disagreed with MacGuineas, stating that a lame-duck congressional session in November and December “is the worst possible time for us to have this (deficit reduction) debate.”

    Said Labrador: “I don’t think that people that will be unelected by the time of the lame-duck session should be making decisions that will affect the future of America.”

    MacGuineas said she wasn’t advocating that “major decisions” on reducing the deficit be made during the last two months of the calendar year, prior to a new Congress convening in January 2013.

    “But we have to do something that shows we’re going to take the first step toward treating this as a real problem this time,” MacGuineas said. “No more punting.”

    Labrador then changed his tune.

    “And I agree with that,” Labrador said. “I think it should be done the first quarter of the year: whomever is in charge needs to make these tough decisions.”

    U.S. Sen. Michael Crapo, R-Idaho, moderated the events, which also included a statement by U.S. Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, and Idaho Republican Lt. Gov. Brad Little.

    Also in attendance: Boise Mayor Dave Bieter, a Democrat, and former Idaho Govs. Cecil Andrus (Democrat) and Phil Batt (Republican).

    “I think the clear first step in all of this is having a national, a real national discussion about what it’s gonna take to fix the debt,” MacGuineas said, “and an acknowledgement that it’s gonna be hard.” She added: “I think the good news is we actually do have a sense of what needs to happen. We know that a deal has to be big enough to fix the problem ... It has to be at least $5 trillion in savings over 10 years. Otherwise, it won’t really be a real fix.”

    Putting a debt reduction plan into place would strengthen the U.S. economy, MacGuineas said.

    Crapo described the current federal debt as the possible precursor to a severe economic crisis.

    “Now, the (debt) crisis will be when the world’s bond markets come to the conclusion that the United States is not going to be able to service its debt,” Crapo said. “And, we are increasingly close to that point. If we hit that tipping point, the ability to put together solutions will dramatically shrink. The damage to the economy will dramatically increase, and the American Dream could be lost ... I think this is the most serious threat that our nation has ever faced.”