As reported by the Baltimore Sun, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has named Representative Chris Van Hollen to serve on the 12-member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, which was created as a part of the Federal budget deal to raise the debt ceiling.

The legislation charged the so-called supercommittee with identifying $1.2 to $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction by Nov. 23. That’s on top of some $900 billion in cuts ordered over the next 10 years.

If the supercommittee is unable to agree on the additional reductions, or if Congress does not accept its recommendations, the law imposes automatic cuts of $1.2 trillion.

Half of these automatic cuts will come from defense spending.

Van Hollen, who represents parts of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland’s Washington suburbs, could use his position to give voice to the tens of thousands of federal workers whose jobs have been threatened during the deficit debate by talk of spending cuts.