The co-chairs of the U.S. deficit commission urged President Barack Obama Thursday to launch negotiations with Congress early next year on a serious fiscal responsibility plan.

Co-Chairs Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson said they believed a bipartisan agreement aimed at reducing America’s massive debt should be reached before any long-term increase in the U.S. debt limit is approved.

“Our businesses will not be able to grow and create jobs and our workers will not be able to compete without a strategy to get this crushing debt burden off our backs,” they said.