Debt panel's Simpson: Lawmakers must hit the 'big four' for cuts

The Hill reports:

Former senator Alan Simpson, a proponent of a sweeping deficit reduction plan, said politically popular moves to tackle spending amount to a "sparrow belch in the midst of a typhoon."

Simpson, a former Republican lawmaker from Wyoming and co-chair of the president's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, said common calls on deficit reduction do little to nothing to address the burgeoning federal deficit, last scored at a record $1.5 trillion. Tackling large entitlement programs and the defense budget are necessary parts of the deficit fight, he said.