The Presidential Debt Commission has issued their final recommendations on erasing the United States' $13.8 trillion deficit. Their recommendations include dramatic cuts in military spending, a higher retirement age and tax reforms. The plan places a cap on discretionary spending, therefore cutting $4 trillion from the national debt before 2020. The main feature of the plan is to eliminate expenditures, known as "tax earmarks," in the tax code.
The Commission eliminated from its original proposal a plan that would have included specific military cuts. The revised plan still calls for defense spending to be cut by the same percent as domestic spending. Military retired pay and health care are targets for future cuts under the revised plan. Other discussion included curtailment of tax breaks and a doubling of the federal tax on a gallon of gasoline.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Ranking Member Judd Gregg, R-N.H., say they don't agree on all the parts but acknowledge they will vote for the plan. In order for the proposal to be submitted to Congress, 14 of the commission's 18 members would need to support the proposal. A final vote has been scheduled to Friday.
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