As noted by a commenter on Stan's post, the SAFE Commission struck out as an amendment in committee to a financial services appropriations bill.  Here's how CongressDaily reported it.  Stan was certainly on the money, when he anticipated a reaction that the Congress would not want to outsource its duties (presumably to contine the status quo in which they are simply not being done by anyone):

House Appropriations Chairman David Obey blasted the idea because the commission would be able to force appropriators to implement a solution that they would have no hand in creating and might not be workable.

Pete started this and Andrew added smartly to the discussion.  Here are a few thoughts from someone who has served on a budget-related commission and watched while many others crashed and burned.

1.  It's extremely rare that federal commissions ever solve problems.  They are usually a way to delay taking action on some issue.

2.  The only exception to #1 I can think of is the commissions that have dealt with military base closures.  But this is also the exception that proves the rule.  The base closure commissions were successful because they were created when a consensus had developed that their recommendations more or less would be followed.

3.  There is no such consensus on entitlements.

4.  In fact, there is no consensus of any kind on entitlements.