News
Obama’s debt taming plan would spare Social Security
The negotiations with Boehner also included US$1 trillion in deficit reduction achieved through a reduced military role in Iraq and Afghanistan. Republicans have objected to using those savings for deficit reduction, but senior administration officials point out that Boehner had agreed to it and that a House Republican budget also counted on those savings.
That alone could go a long way toward meeting the president’s debt trimming goal, but it could depend on how a congressional supercommittee chooses to measure long-term deficits.
The president’s goal of at least US$2 trillion in deficit reduction exceeds the US$1.5 trillion that the supercommittee has been assigned to identify. Obama has called for the higher figure to pay for the $447 billion jobs bill that he sent to Congress this week.
Obama has proposed that the bill be paid with nearly US$450 billion in tax revenue, achieved by limiting deductions for wealthier taxpayers, closing corporate loopholes and eliminating tax subsidies to oil and gas companies.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
