Exclusive: Tea Party Would Cut $9 Trillion

U.S. News and World Report ^ | November 17, 2011 | Paul Bedard

[Zakeet]

Scoffing at Washington's troubled effort to cut just $1.2 trillion in federal debt over 10 years, the Tea Party's own debt commission today unveiled a shocking plan to slash nearly $10 trillion over the next decade, in part by eliminating several federal agencies, balancing the budget by 2015, and killing foreign aid to unfriendly nations.

[Snip]

Key initiatives include:

• Repealing the president's health care reform plan.
• Eliminating four cabinet agencies: Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce and Education, and reducing or privatizing the EPA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and TSA.
• Ending farm subsidies, foreign aid to unfriendly nations, and student loans, or what the Tea Party report called "luxuries we can no longer afford."
• Suspending pension contributions and cost of living adjustments to lawmakers when the budget is running a deficit.
• Killing all congressional earmarks.
• Cut federal employee pay by 10 percent and slash employee travel to $4 billion, half of what was spent in 2000.
• Make the Bush tax cuts and the alternative minimum tax permanent.

"Imagine a plan that cuts, caps, and balances federal spending without raising taxes; that gives future generations control over their own retirement security; and that lifts the massive debt burden from our children's shoulders so they can know the American dream of ever-higher freedom and prosperity. And on top of all that, imagine that it's a serious, credible, plan generated by the grassroots. This is that plan," said the report.

[mylife]

This sounds surprisingly like Perry’s platform.

[Stosh]

From the summary:

“Make the Bush tax cuts and the alternative minimum tax permanent.”

Make the alternative minimum tax permanent? Do they maybe mean “make the alternative minimum tax *fix* permanent”? Does anyone know?

I hate that freaking ATM.

[DJ MacWoW]

Day 48 Of The FReepathon
Do You Know Why?

There are loyal posters that donate every FReepathon. Some donate several times during every 'thon. But others never donate. Why?

1 My enemies haven't been zotted.
2 The owner doesn't support my candidate.
3 FR won't "upgrade" to "Like" buttons and blinky crap.
4 Someone else will donate.
5 My friend was zotted.
6 I lost my job and have no income.

Only one of those is a legitimate reason.

Support It Or Lose It

[runninglips]

It would balance the budget by 2015...and pay off the debt by 2020.

You figure out how to sell that to the American people, and watch this catch on like hot pants in the 60's, with similar smiles from me.

[PGalt]

T.E.A.

DEFUND socialist collectives, foreign and domestic.

DEPOPULATE socialists and RINOS (Republicans Implementing Nuances Of Socialism) from all levels of government.

http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/

http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=71&sectiontree=2,71

Above all, if you wish to be strong, begin by rooting out every particle of socialism that may have crept into your legislation. This will be no light task. - Frederic Bastiat 1801-1850

Live free and prosper

[verity]

This reminds me of a young child's Christmas wish list.

[ResponseAbility]

****Boo yah! Let the good times roll! I would love to see these cuts made.****

You mean let the hard times roll. Which is exactly what is inevitable and necessary for us to move past this. We wont transition easily, and it will mean much worse than hardship in the near future. After the bloodletting we will be stronger than ever.

This is also to say that the present course is outright suicide, so if we follow the course outlined in the article, well we’ve got that going for us.

[Pining_4_TX]

Party pooper! ;-)

Yes, I know you are correct, but I also believe that if we start going down the right road, things will turn around faster than people think possible.

[Alissa]

Cut federal employee pay by 10 percent and slash employee travel to $4 billion, half of what was spent in 2000

Actually this will probably happen to DoD employees and military if this super committee fails.

But I'd like to add another item, since Congress got us into this mess, they need to suffer as well. Reduce their salaries, retirement & health benefits as well as other innumerable perks! They act so righteous like they have nothing to do with causing this crisis.

[Repeal The 17th]

“...Killing all congressional earmarks...”
I don’t know any practical way to do that.
-
“...Make the Bush tax cuts and the alternative minimum tax permanent...”
No tax can be permanent, since no congress can bind the next.
-
There is nothing the EPA does that can not be done better and cheaper by the states.

[af_vet_rr]

I like it, but if you eliminate the Department of Energy, who handles the manufacture, testing, and disposal of our nuclear weapons?

[struggle]

>I like it, but if you eliminate the Department of Energy, who handles the manufacture, testing, and disposal of our nuclear weapons?

Department of Defense?

[kindred]

(Tea Party)Key initiatives include:

•Repealing the president’s health care reform plan.
•Eliminating four cabinet agencies: Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce and Education, and reducing or privatizing the EPA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and TSA.
•Ending farm subsidies, foreign aid to unfriendly nations, and student loans, or what the Tea Party report called “luxuries we can no longer afford.”
•Suspending pension contributions and cost of living adjustments to lawmakers when the budget is running a deficit.
•Killing all congressional earmarks.
•Cut federal employee pay by 10 percent and slash employee travel to $4 billion, half of what was spent in 2000.
•Make the Bush tax cuts and the alternative minimum tax permanent.

This is the best plan I have ever heard and not one pub candidate has used these ideas as a platform. The country is gone to hell.

[RedMDer]

Donate Today!

[kindred]

[I like it, but if you eliminate the Department of Energy,]

A government agency having their dirty corrupt hands near nuclear weapons is a bad idea to begin with. The military should handle nuclear weapons start to finish.

[af_vet_rr]

A government agency having their dirty corrupt hands near nuclear weapons is a bad idea to begin with. The military should handle nuclear weapons start to finish.

The same bureaucracy and support infrastructure that exists to handle those weapons under DOE would have to exist under the DOD.

[kindred]

[So, in keeping with the spirit of trying to restore fiscal sanity, how about these additions:
•The United Nations

•All the rest of the Department of Agriculture

•All the rest of the Environmental Protection Agency

•The Transportation Screening Agency

•The Department of Transportation

•The Department of Health and Human Services ... transfer Medicare, Medicaid and welfare back to the states to do with as they see fit

•The Department of Homeland Security ... bust it up and kill about 2/3 of the spending

•90 percent or so of the Department of the Interior

•Everything else that isn’t expressly authorized by the U.S. Constitution]

Great ideas from conservative people. Why don’t we conservatives unite and actually run a conservative candidate for President or support a real conservative like Rick Santorium.

[Nat Turner]

Hmmm...how bout the guys that actually USE the nukes...might save some $$ there. When it comes to disposal we will just bury them in Harry Reid’s backyard

[Ingtar]

The first Republican candidate who embraces this wins.

Until he is asked to name the four departments? :)

[Ingtar]

Add a roll back to 2005 budget and a ban on base-line budgeting, and you are there, I believe.