Deficit Commission Releases Draft Report

The deficit commission released a draft report yesterday afternoon, detailing how we can cut our deficit by $200 billion or so a year... and surprisingly it's mostly spending cuts with a few revenue-raising measures tossed in. Republicans aren't thrilled with the few tax increases included, and Democrats flatly reject the cost-containment measures for Social Security. Let's take a peek at this little document and see what they are suggesting.
http://blogs.ajc.com/jamie-dupree-washington-insider/2010/11/11/deficit-commission-draft/

* Reduce Congressional & White House budgets by 15 percent - saving $800 million
* Freeze federal salaries, bonuses, and other compensation at non-defense agencies - $42 billion
* Cut the federal workforce by 10 percent - $13.2 billion
* Eliminate 250,000 non-defense service and staff augmentee contractors - $18.4 billion
* Eliminate all earmarks - $16 billion
* Eliminate funding for commercial spaceflight - $1.2 billion
* Eliminate grants to large and medium-sized hub airports - $1.2 billion

These aren't what you call "big-ticket" items, and together they only cut $92.8 billion a year in spending. But there is more.


The plan also detailed savings from the Pentagon.

* Three year salary freeze for civilian workers in the military - $5.3 billion
* Freeze non-combat military pay levels for three years - $9.2 billion
* End purchases of the V-22 Osprey
* Cut by half the planned purchases of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
* Reduce overseas deployments by one-third - $8.5 billion
* Modernize the DOD Tricare health system - $6 billion

So far so good, right? Well, the plan also calls for changes in Social Security; lowering the yearly Cost-Of-Living-Adjustment for Social Security and by raising the retirement age in forty years.

To my mind, those are pretty minor changes to Social Security, but Democrats are up in arms and fighting hard against it.

"This proposal is simply unacceptable," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who led the Democratic Party charge against it.

"The Deficit Commission Co-Chairs' plan to cut Social Security and Medicare is dead on arrival," said Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), the outgoing Chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

This reaction proves that they are unwilling to do anything about reducing the deficit, and that they are exactly as fiscally irresponsible as voters have come to believe they are. You can't get our fiscal house in order WITHOUT doing something about Social Security and Medicare. These changes won't "fix" the programs, but they'll help. A little.

So let's keep watching as folks react to this report. Personally, I don't think it goes nearly far enough. Look, two years ago, we were running a $400 billion a year deficit. Not good, but LOADS better than the current $1.4 TRILLION yearly deficit. I think we should change and repeal the laws we have to in order to reduce spending to 2008 levels. That's a start. This plan doesn't do that, but it does do SOMETHING.