Let’s reduce the deficit by…

increasing spending. 

Remember the supercommittee, 6 Democrats and 6 Republicans who have been charged with devising a plan to reduce our $15 trillion (and growing) deficit?  That group is charged with coming up with a plan before Thanksgiving.

The Democrats on that committee have developed a proposal which they unveiled at a closed door meeting on Tuesday.  Although all of the details are not available, we learn this from today’s Wall Street Journal:

…aides familiar with the Democratic  plan say it also called for up to $300 billion in spending for programs to create jobs and spur economic growth. [emphasis supplied]

The proposal also includes increased taxes (a non-starter for Republicans) and cuts to Medicare (a non-starter for Democratic committee member Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina).  But including a revised, slimmed down version of Son of Stimulus (aka, the American Jobs Act) in a deficit reduction plan does seem a bit out of place.

But, maybe that’s just me.

Posted in ,

SoundOffSister

The Sound Off Sister was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and special trial attorney for the Department of Justice, Criminal Division; a partner in the Florida law firm of Shutts & Bowen, and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami, School of Law. The Sound Off Sister offers frequent commentary concerning legislation making its way through Congress, including the health reform legislation passed in early 2010.

8 Comments

  1. Plainvillian on October 27, 2011 at 9:17 am

    Congress is a cancer.? Surgery needed.



  2. Dimsdale on October 27, 2011 at 9:24 am

    How is taking money out of Medicare a non starter for Democrats if ?bama is taking a half billion dollars out of it with ?bamacare?



    • GdavidH on October 27, 2011 at 11:47 am

      Was it not 500 billion? I get confused with all these zeros.



    • Dimsdale on October 27, 2011 at 2:15 pm

      My bad: it was a half trillion!?? Pretty soon, we’ll be talking about real money!!? 😉
      ?



  3. PatRiot on October 27, 2011 at 12:13 pm

    There they go again.? The Dems are ignoring their duty and injecting their own goals (spending).
    More R vs D no-started gridlock.? Nothing American about it.
    The addiction to spending has a blinding effect.
    I say we hold back on giving them any more tax money.
    It may wake them up to their addiction.??
    Whether it does or not,?at?least?we can say “Let them eat cake” before they say it to us.?



  4. winnie on October 27, 2011 at 7:21 pm

    One of the first things I learned in school is how important it is to *follow directions*.? And that was back in kindergarten.? They’re supposed to “cut” spending, not “paste” more in.?
    ?



  5. JBS on October 28, 2011 at 7:45 am

    Egads, the more things change, the more they stay the same!
    We need new Congress people, not Democrats.?
    If these Congresscritters can’t come up with spending reductions, won’t automatic cuts occur? I’ll bet that the Democrats will change the rules and that won’t happen!
    It will be the Chinese who will force change by not loaning anymore money to the U.S.



  6. ricbee on October 28, 2011 at 11:03 pm

    ?This “super committee” is a real scam. They will find something”bipartisan” that they will try to slip by us.



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