ALTERNATIVE DEBT PLAN RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE ON DEFICIT REDUCTIONS

Policy Assumption 2012 - 2021 Savings (Billions of Dollars) Limit highway funding to expected highway revenue (1) 86 Eliminate intercity rail subsidies (including AMTRAK) (1) 30 Restrict Pell Grants to the neediest students (1) 7 Reduce funding for the arts and humanities (1) 5 Reduce National Institutes of Health funding to 2003 levels - last massive increase (1) 38 Reduce adjustments for federal civilian employees' pay (1) 51 Welfare Reform Act - caps welfare programs at 2007 (+inflation), when unemployment below 7.5% (5 & 7) 2,305 *Medicaid (at 2007 levels, when unemployment below 7.5%, increase at health care inflation rate) [1730] *SCHIP (at 2007 levels, when unemployment below 7.5%, increase at health care inflation rate) [5.5] *Supplemental Security Income (at 2007 levels, when unemployment below 7.5%, increase at inflation rate) [147] Reduce commodity payments through means testing recipients (3) 3 Reduce federal program payment errors (3) 160 Reduce federal contractors by 15% (8) 233 Eliminate Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (8) 19 Reduce Deptartment of Housing and Urban Development's HOME partnership by 10% (3) 22 Eliminate payment where earned income and child tax credit exceed tax liability 519 Stop Social Security payments to individuals making $1 million (2) 17 Freeze the Department of Interior's land acquisition program for 10 years (8) 4 Reduce Department of Education K-12 spending back to 2000 levels (5) 190 Major government asset sales (5a) 203 End foreign aid to countries with more than $10 billion in U.S. securities (8) 18 Line-item veto authority(6) 6 Reduce defense spending by $100 billion over 10 years (9a) 100 Reduce the federal workforce by 10% (2-for-3 replacement rate) (10) 24 Merge the Department of Commerce and Small Business Administration and reduce by 10% (10) 10 Terminate low-priority Corps constructions projects (10) 1 Reduce diplomatic and consular program overhead costs (10) 10 Ban government-contracted union projects 24 Reduce federal travel (2) 80 Repeal Davis-Bacon prevailing wages 62 Slow the growth of foreign aid (10) 26 Rescind unobligated balances after 36 months (5) 140 Reduce the voluntary contributions to the United Nations (10) 4 Potential net interest saving (at $4 trillion in savings) 660 Adopt Senate Republican Jobs Plan comprehensive tax reform 0 Total Savings: 5,057 (1): CBO Options: Reducing the Deficit - spending and revenue options (2): Senator Rand Paul Budget (3): FY2012 President Obama Budget (4): August 2011 CBO Budget and Economic Outlook (5): Heritage Foundation - Saving the American Dream (5a): Includes sale of federal properties, real estate, mineral rights, the electromagnetic spectrum, and energy-generation facilities. (6): Senator John McCain S.102 (7): Senator Jim DeMint - See Welfare Reform Act (8): Senator Tom Coburn proposal (9): Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction ("Super Committee")
(10): President Obamas Fiscal Commission