The co-chairmen of the White House's bipartisan deficit-reduction commission said Tuesday they would propose a significant paring of popular middle-class tax breaks, including the mortgage-interest deduction, and push for an increase in the Social Security retirement age.
The recommendations will be included in a final debt-cutting proposal from Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson to be unveiled Wednesday. The ideas are part of a broad and controversial proposal to tackle the U.S. government's debt through a combination of spending cuts and an overhaul of the tax code. The proposal would hold down the growth of the federal debt by at least $3.8 trillion by 2020, and perhaps more, the two said at a news conference. Messrs. Bowles and Simpson said their plan was preferable to a debt crisis like Europe's that could ensue without changes to fiscal policy.
The chairmen, who head the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, told reporters Tuesday they would delay a final vote on their package until Friday, because they wanted to give the group's 16 other members more time to study their recommendations.
The plan is expected to fall short of the 14 votes needed to issue a formal recommendation to Congress and the White House, people familiar with the matter said. The chairmen could still push to have some of their ideas incorporated into budget proposals from the White House and congressional Republicans.
The commission's recommendations aren't binding, but Messrs. Simpson and Bowles have managed to seize the nation's attention with some of their dire warnings and the sweep of their proposals. Retiring New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg predicted that no matter how many votes the recommendation receives, it will become the foundation for discussions next year about how to tackle the debt.
No comments:
Post a Comment