FILE - In this Dec. 1, 2010, file photo, Debt Commission co-chairmen Erskine Bowles, left, and former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson speak to the media after a meeting of the commission on Capitol Hill in Washington. Since the end of World War II, more than a dozen high-profile bipartisan panels have been convened to tackle the nation’s thorniest fiscal problems. But seldom have their recommendations spurred congressional action. Their ambitious, high-octane reports and recommendations are mostly still gathering dust on government shelves. A 2010-2011 deficit-reduction panel, led by Simpson and Bowles, produced a comprehensive deficit-cutting plan that was widely praised but mostly ignored, even by President Barack Obama, who created it. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)