Thread: Coburn unveils the $9 trillion plan

Coburn unveils $9T deficit-reduction plan - TheHill.com

The best Senator in America, IMO. Plenty of cuts, but also $1 trillion in new revenues and defense cuts, something most Republicans will reject out of hand.

He's the only guy who is realistic about what needs to be done. And, he doesn't step into the minefield of privatizing Medicare. These are just straight cuts by raising the age of eligibility.

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Coburn has proposed cutting $1 trillion from the Pentagon over the next 10 years, one of many areas of government he has slated for big cuts.

But most significantly, Coburn has endorsed eliminating $962 billion in tax breaks, which he says has “created an unfair system in which taxpayers with similar incomes and businesses with similar profits do not pay similar rates.”

“We’re starting down the path of tax reform,” Coburn said. “We think you ought to eliminate these and lower the rates.”

The proposal will further inflame Coburn’s testy relationship with anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

It will also give political ammunition to Democrats who insist that eliminating corporate tax breaks should be part of any broad deficit-reduction agreement.

On the spending side of the ledger, he has called for $974.1 billion in general government savings over the next decade.

Over that same period, he has recommended $4.3 billion in cuts to Congress, $346.4 billion in cuts to the Department of Agriculture, $409 billion from the Department of Education, $101.8 billion from the Energy Department and $106.7 billion from Health and Human Services.

Coburn described his plan as a menu of policy options for lawmakers to use as they negotiate a long-term deficit reduction package.

“This is a plan that people can pick and choose from,” he said.

Among his most controversial ideas is one to cut the cost of Medicare and Medicaid by $2.64 trillion over the next 10 years.

His plan would extend the solvency of Social Security by gradually raising the retirement age by a month every two years beginning in 2022 so that it would reach 69 by the hear 2077.

He would also reduce Social Security cost-of-living adjustments by using the formula known as “chained-CPI” to measure inflation.

I'd want to see more detail... including when 11 trillion gets us balanced, etc.

But I'd take this deal.

I think it could pass the House as well.

Would Obama sign it?

Not a chance.

This plan probably can't pass anywhere, but at least there is no single dealbreaker in there like Medicare privatization. This plan will probably go nowhere now, but when we're in Greece's shoes it'll probably be dragged out and passed then.

As for when it gets us to balance, Coburn would have to have it scored to know that for sure. Anything else is just a guess. Even if he knows it can't pass, he should still ask the CBO to score it. That'll make it a real plan rather than just an outline.

Originally Posted by tsquare

I'd want to see more detail... including when 11 trillion gets us balanced, etc.

But I'd take this deal.

I think it could pass the House as well.

Would Obama sign it?

Not a chance.

Agreed, I'd need to see a good bit more detail on exactly when the cuts are implemented over time and if the tax code imbalance is ever addressed. There is no real reason to assume that the cuts alone are soon enough to get us to a balanced budget any time soon, thus will need not only this debt limit increase we are facing now but probably several others down the road until fully implemented. However from what we do know, I seriously doubt this plan has any chance in the Senate or Obama's desk.

Which is why it has to be submitted to the CBO. They make cool charts and stuff.

ahoy Adaher,

regardin' the plan by congressman Coburn, i think i'd rather see me a bit more raisin' 'o revenue and a few less cuts in spendin' - yet this certainly be the direction that talks must eventually drift to.

i've a question fer ye, also, me friend.

thar seems to be near univeral agreement amongst economists that robust slashin' 'o government spendin' would, at this moment, plunge our nation into a mighty recession.

how does this dire projection figure into Mr. Coburn's cost cuttin' plan?

- MeadHallPirate

Macroeconomics is an unreliable field. Spending cuts are about as likely to plunge the economy into recession as stimulus was to revive the economy. There's nothing wrong with Keynesian Theory, but no one knows the precise multipliers for various types of spending. Keynes himself didn't bother to guess.

Yet another Republican plan, but still not a single detailed plan from Democrats, and specifically Obama. Im ok with Coburns plan. No, I dont think we should raise taxes in any form, but I have no problem with tax reform. Simply raise tax rates on those not affected to make sure the tax increase is shared equally. Here is the actual plan:

http://coburn.senate.gov/public//ind...c-1336220ea7bf

Ill need some summary tables to see the real effect though. When does this balance? How much debt do we add till then? What assumptions are being made?

Originally Posted by jviehe

Yet another Republican plan, but still not a single detailed plan from Democrats, and specifically Obama

ahoy Jviehe,

'tis not a "plan" that the GOP hath put forth.

a plan constitutes more than sayin', "cut spending". thats not a plan, mate...its a slogan. it doesn't mean a thing, no matter how many ways ye re-package it.

more to the point, it means less than nothing if all ye do is put forward plans, and then wave the white flag and surrender the moment ye feel the slightest bit 'o resistance (see Paul Ryan's proposal).

its

all

just

talk.

*nods*

- MeadHallPirate

Originally Posted by MeadHallPirate

ahoy Jviehe,

'tis not a "plan" that the GOP hath put forth.

- MeadHallPirate

Did you read the Coburn plan?

All 621 pages?

If that's not enough detail for you... well... I just don't know.

BTW: MeadHallPirate, could you provide a link to the president's plan?

Thanks!