- Moderator
- #1
WASHINGTON (AP) One of the Senate's staunchest budget-cutters unveiled Monday a massive plan to cut the nation's deficit by $9 trillion over the coming decade, including $1 trillion in tax increases opposed by most of his fellow Republicans.
The plan by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is laced with politically perilous proposals like raising to 70 the age at which people can claim their full Social Security benefits. It would cut farm subsidies, Medicare, student aid, housing subsidies for the poor, and funding for community development grants. Coburn even takes on the powerful veterans' lobby by proposing that some veterans pay more for medical care and prescription drugs.
Coburn would also eliminate $1 trillion in tax breaks over the coming decade, earning him an immediate rebuke from Americans for Tax Reform, an anti-tax organization with which Coburn has had a running feud. He would block taxpayers from claiming the mortgage interest deduction on second homes and limit it to homes worth $500,000. He would also ease taxpayers into higher tax brackets more quickly by using a smaller measure of inflation to adjust the brackets.
Coburn proposes $9 trillion deficit cut measure - Yahoo! News
Finally, a real, serious proposal to the debt problem. Of course, it will be DOA because there are too many cuts for the Democrats and too many tax increases for the Republicans, but it's the only proposal I've seen to date that actually addresses the hard choices that the bulk of Congress is too cowardly to make.
Bear in mind, Tom Coburn is one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate, but I have no doubt he'll be branded a RINO now.