* White House welcomes Republican commitment to debt panel
* Gibbs: fiscal commission will be up and running soon
(Adds details, background, byline)
By Alister Bull
WASHINGTON, March 12 (Reuters) - The White House, keen toshow it is serious about tackling the United States" soaringdebt and deficit, said on Friday it hoped to have PresidentBarack Obama"s fiscal commission up and running soon.
"Our strong hope is that in the next few weeks, not onlywill the commission be filled out but we"ll have staff in placeand that the commission can meet soon in order to generaterecommendations, hopefully that Congress can act on quickly,"White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told a daily news briefing.
He spoke after Republican leaders picked their six choicesto serve on the 18-seat National Commission on FiscalResponsibility, which Obama set up to generate ideas on how tocurb government spending and boost revenues.
Obama created the commission in February after Congressfailed to agree on its own debt-fighting body to tackle thecountry"s worrying fiscal decline.
Obama"s commission, which will lack the legislative powersthat a congressional debt panel would have wielded, will be ledby Erskine Bowles, a former chief of staff to President BillClinton, and former Republican Senator Alan Simpson.
The budget deficit is forecast to hit a record $1.56trillion this fiscal year. This adds to the national debt andcould sap investor confidence in U.S. credit-worthiness in theabsence of convincing action to restore budget discipline.
Mounting deficits have also stirred powerful oppositionamong ordinary Americans worried that they will spell highertaxes in the future. The debt issue will also be a potentfactor in upcoming congressional elections in November.
REPUBLICAN SUSPICIONS
There was initial concern Republicans would refuse to takepart in the commission because of suspicions it would giveObama"s Democrats political cover to raise taxes, but they putforward their proposed candidates on Friday.
Taxes and public spending are among the most divisiveissues in American politics, and the absence of bipartisansupport for any proposed solutions to the country"s fiscal woeswould almost certainly doom them to failure.
"Americans are rightly concerned about the growth ofgovernment, while the rest of the country has been tighteningtheir belts," said Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell.
Obama has already named six members to the commission andSenate Democrats have picked three members as well.
The last three are yet to be named by House ofRepresentatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Her spokesman said shewas talking to a number of House members.
Gibbs welcomed the Republican decision to join the panel asan "important and positive development" in light of the initialworry that it would fail to attract bipartisan support.
"The President believes that this is an important -- animportant commission to look at all of the aspects of what thisgovernment spends money on and to evaluate its sustainabilityin the future," he said.
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