Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., offered a plan Monday to avoid the fiscal cliff of tax increases and spending cuts now set to begin Jan. 1.
Corker’s prescription, detailed in a Washington Post opinion piece, calls for a $4.5 trillion reduction in the budget deficit over the next 10 years. The plan includes $1 trillion in new revenues, but tax rates wouldn’t be increased. Instead, federal deductions would be capped at $50,000,
The Hill reports.
The proposal also includes entitlement reforms, such as gradual age-eligibility increases for Social Security and Medicare. Corker would leave current fee-for-service Medicare plans in place, but add private options to the mix.
“The easiest thing, the best thing we can do for the country, is rip the Band-Aid off, make these decisions, and in January we’ll see an economy that will take off,” Corker told CBS’ “This Morning” program.
“No Congress in history is more prepared to make these decisions. We’ve had two dry runs, we’ve litigated this, we’ve gone through every single score of every single decision that would have to be made. And the last thing we need to do right now is kick the can down the road or create some process,” he said.
Americans are certainly concerned. According to a new CNN/ORC International poll, 44 percent believe that jumping off the cliff would create major problems, 24 percent believe it would cause a crisis, 24 percent believe it would spur minor problems, and 7 percent don’t see it as a problem.
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