Ending various corporate tax breaks (132.2 billion in annual savings)
Reducing defense spending (110.7 billion in annual savings)
Taxing Capital Gains and dividends as ordinary income (88.1 billion)
Passing cap and trade (52 billion)
Passing a robust public option (10 billion)
Reducing agricultural subsidies (7.5 billion)
And several other, smaller changes that would cut tens of billions from the federal budget deficit.
But this is not just a fair, sensible and effective plan. It is also a very well-argued one--the sort of thing many of us were expecting to see from the Obama Adminstration itself on any number of topics, but have not--which is why I want to step through the one-page presentation on Schakowsky's website introducing the plan. Here's how she begins:
Schakowsky Offers Alternative to Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Plan
Plan Would Close Deficit without Forcing the Middle Class to Pay the Bill
WASHINGTON, DC (November 16, 2010) - Today Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, offered a comprehensive proposal to reduce the federal deficit without making middle class Americans foot the bill. Schakowsky's plan is an alternative to the Bowles-Simpson plan and would reduce the deficit by $426.95 billion in 2015, surpassing President Obama's $250 billion target. Critically, the Schakowsky plan accomplishes deficit reduction without making cuts to essential federal expenditures that benefit the middle class.
So, three main points right off the bat:
(1) An ALTERNATIVE to Bowles-Simpson. (No, we don't have accept Bowles-Simpson as a starting point.)
(2) Gets the deficit-reduction job done by 2015. (There are other ways to meet the goal.)
(3) Doesn't harm the middle class. (Ways that don't harm folks who've already suffered a lot.)
Next, we get a statement from Schakowsky in her own words. She begins by explaining why she is offering her own proposal, laying the moral and practical foundations for her plan in terms of recent history, since the budget was last balanced under Bill Clinton:
I just wanted to let folks here know that the good people over at Firedoglake Book Salon, along with my dear friend Rep. Jan Schakowsky, will be hosting a chat about my new book, The Progressive Revolution. It'll be tomorrow, Saturday the 24th, from 5-7 PM EST. It's always a good time, so if you enjoy sparring in the comments here, head on over and we'll dance. Jan is also always an interesting person to chat with.
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