Obama Unveils Deficit Plan

By Chuck Sudo in News on Sep 19, 2011 7:00PM

President Obama unveiled a $3 trillion deficit reduction plan this morning. In a bit of political grandstanding aimed at making the GOP look obstinate, Obama proposed cuts in Medicare and Medicaid in exchange for tax increases on the wealthy and has already threatened to veto any compromise that does not include tax increases of the higher earners in the nation.

House Speaker John Boehner has already said he would not support any tax increases and yesterday's news shows were littered with Republicans decrying the so-called "Buffet rule" as class warfare. This morning the President, in the quote of the day, said, "This isn't class warfare; it's math."

The line in the sand drawn by Obama continues the confrontational stance he adopted with his joint session of Congress nearly two weeks back.

Sun-Times Washington correspondent Lynn Sweet lists how the tax increases will occur.

That money would come from allowing Bush-era tax cuts to expire ($800 billion), limiting high income deductions ($300 billion) and closing tax loopholes ($300 billion). Some of the loophole closers, the officials said will be cutting breaks for the oil and gas industry, ending carried interest and taxing corporate jets--proposals that have been rejected in the past year by Congress.

By offering this plan, Obama is also looking at silencing critics who say he doesn't come to Capitol Hill with his own proposals. Our $64,000 question now is: what if the GOP calls Obama's bluff on the tax hikes in exchange for Medicare and Medicaid cuts?