US President Barack Obama has issued an executive order for a commission to be set up to work out a strategy to lead the country away from crippling debt. The president has appointed former White House Chief of Staff, Erskine Bowles and former Senator, Alan Simpson to lead the bi-partisan panel.

Barack Obama said, "Alan Simpson and Erskine than these two."

The president signed the executive order after Congress rejected a similar body to find ways of reducing the huge budget deficit. It hit a record 1.41 trillion dollars in the 2009 fiscal year. In the proposal for the 2011 fiscal year sent to Congress earlier this month, Obama said the budget deficit would swell to a record 1.56 trillion dollars in the 2010 fiscal year which ends in September. Last year's deficit equaled 9.9 percent of GDP, the highest since World War Two. It's projected to climb to 10.6 percent of GDP this year. Officials say a sustainable deficit-GDP ratio is about three percent.