Thinking outside the box for a change!
Senate Democrats have drafted a sweeping debt-reduction plan that would slice $4 trillion from projected borrowing over the next decade without touching the expensive health and retirement programs targeted by President Obama.Instead, Senate Democrats are proposing to stabilize borrowing through sharp cuts at the Pentagon and other government agencies, as well as $2 trillion in new taxes, primarily on families earning more than $1 million year, according to a copy of the plan obtained by The Washington Post.
With debt-reduction talks under way between Obama and congressional leaders, Senate Democrats are unlikely to adopt the blueprint. However, it has gained broad support among those eager to chart a path to solving the nation’s budget problems without making politically painful cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
“The very strong feeling was we needed to get this into the conversation, because it provides an alternative view,” said a Senate Democrat familiar with the blueprint, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it has not been publicly released. “What’s striking is how modest the changes need to be to get us back on track.”
No editorializing here from the WaPo reporter — the plan is “sweeping” in its benefits, it seems, and yet perfectly “modest” in its actual changes. Wow! Sounds awesome!
…“If they’re calling for $2 trillion in tax hikes in the middle of a jobs crisis, it’s little wonder that it’s been 800 days since Senate Democrats passed a budget,” said McConnell spokesman Don Stewart.
By the way, the WaPo’s headline is very misleading — only later in the article does the reporter admit the Democrats will never actually propose or vote for this plan — it only has the support of about half the caucus.
But the article is headlined, and written in the early going, to suggest the Democrats have finally proposed a budget.
They have not.
An actual budget would make clear that they either want to punish the middle class with steep tax increases or simply permit the United States economy to implode by weight of forbidding debt.
