Dear Steven,

Not long ago, the Senate Majority Leader asked me to be one of the twelve U.S. Senators and Representatives - 6 Democrats, 6 Republicans - to serve on a special Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Former Senator Alan Simpson once described his own work on a bipartisan debt commission as "a suicide mission" - and indeed, even some of my friends have pointed out the peril of serving on the new joint select committee charged with deficit reduction. But for our economy there would be far greater peril in leaving our nation's debt unaddressed, or in failing to step beyond the partisanship and politics that have overwhelmed our congressional budget talks for months. The true danger - the real "suicide mission" for our economy - lies in doing nothing, and allowing today's broken political system to break our fragile economy wide open. This is an important moment for our country. Trillions of dollars in private capital are sitting on the sidelines because businesses are not yet confident in our economy and because they've lost confidence in Washington. Millions of Americans are still struggling, working overtime to pay the bills, find a job, and find a way forward for their families, and they want Washington and particularly our new Committee to put our fiscal house in order and do so fairly, in a balanced way.

Now, with the committee's negotiations about to get into full swing, I really need to hear from you - I need your input about the choices we face and the consensus we need to build to create jobs, fix the deficit, and get America growing again. Every decision I make is guided by Massachusetts, and whether you're a small business owner or out in the job market, I want to bring your firsthand viewpoint with me to the discussions and negotiations in Washington. So if you have ideas or suggestions about how to reduce the deficit, create jobs, and get our country back on track, I'm setting up a special form at Kerry.senate.gov where you can send me your ideas.

Thank you - and I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

John