A Few Submissions to the Super Committee

The parade of submissions to the Super Committee has started. Over the next few months the Super Committee is likely to be inundated by fiscal plans from all over--and outside--Washington, building on the long-list of 30+ existing fiscal plans already on the table. The first two came in from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)--on behalf of the Minority of the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia--and a joint effort of U.S. PIRG and the National Taxpayers Union.

Johnson's report presents savings of $1.4 trillion over ten years, dealing mostly with (as you can imagine) the federal workforce and general government efficiencies. There is a huge list of options provided, with ten-year savings ranging from $1.5 million to $250 billion. Some of the bigger ticket items include cuts to the federal and contracting workforce, increasing employee contributions to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), closing computer data centers, and sharp reductions in agency travel budgets.

The U.S. PIRG/NTU plan is a slightly larger version of one that they released last October. It includes about $1 trillion in savings over ten years, with most of its cuts in discretionary and other domestic spending. They have a number of reductions or eliminations in agriculture and energy subsidies, along with acquisition reductions and reforms in defense. In addition, they also suggest government reforms, such as reform of the government's IT and the sale of excess federal property. Also, it includes a few cuts in Medicare, reducing payments to teaching hospitals and high-cost areas.

These plans are likely to be the first of many that will be submitted to the Super Committee. Congressional committees only have until October 14 to submit their plans, so there should be a high volume of plans coming in over the next month. The Committee will certainly have plenty of ideas to use from these two plans, others that have already been released, and the many that are soon to come.

As more plans are submitted to the Super Committee, we will be compiling them into a table, which you can view here.