POWIP Piece of Work In Progress – Former Abode of Dan Collins

One of the Senate's staunchest budget-cutters unveiled Monday a massive plan to cut the nation's deficit by $9 trillion over the coming decade, including $1 trillion in tax increases opposed by most of his fellow Republicans.

The plan by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is laced with politically perilous proposals like raising to 70 the age at which people can claim their full Social Security benefits. It would cut farm subsidies, Medicare, student aid, housing subsidies for the poor, and funding for community development grants.

Coburn would also eliminate $1 trillion in tax breaks over the coming decade, earning him an immediate rebuke from Americans for Tax Reform, an anti-tax organization with which Coburn has had a running feud. He would block taxpayers from claiming the mortgage interest deduction on second homes and limit it to homes worth $500,000. He would also ease taxpayers into higher tax brackets more quickly by using a smaller measure of inflation to adjust the brackets.

Coburn would cut $1 trillion from the Pentagon budget over a decade. He would block military retirees from the Tricare Prime health care plan, the option with the lowest out-of-pocket cost, saving $115 billion, and he would raise the prescription drug copayment under the program, as well as require higher out-of-pocket fees. He also would reduce the fleet of aircraft carriers from 11 to 10 and Navy air wings from 10 to nine.

As you can imagine, I'm no fan of that last provision to be sure, but that's one of the reasons I loves me some Tom Coburn; he's a fair man, and I can guarantee that there will be something in this plan for everyone to hate  :)

But overall it's an impressive work.  Essentially, in a nutshell, over the next 10 years he achieves $3trillion in discretionary cuts, $3trillion in entitlement cuts, $1 trillion from defense cuts, $1 trillion reduction from tax code reforms, and $1trillion savings from a reduction of interests costs paid over that same time period.

As a member of the President's deficit reduction panel Senator Coburn is well acquainted with the intricacies of this issue, and he's never been afraid of putting it out there-so to speak.  Here's a list of where he's getting the 9 trillion dollar figure from:

Now I'm sure in the coming days there will be mountains of analysis, comment, and explanation of this program.  As Joy did with CC&B, I strongly urge you to get the facts straight from the source at Senator Coburn's site.  You can view the plan there in pieces, or download a PDF of the entire proposal.

Tell us what you think of Senator Coburn's plan kind reader, we truly value your opinions here at The Conservatory.

[Cross Posted at The Conservatory]