Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) presented the details of his proposal to replace the sequester with alternative savings. The plan entitled, American Family Economic Protection Act, would be used to delay the automatic, across-the-board spending reductions, currently scheduled to take effect on March 1, 2013, through January 2, 2014. Senator Reid’s proposal would achieve $110 billion in deficit reduction, half from tax hikes and half from spending cuts. The new revenue in the plan would come almost entirely from a new 30 percent tax rate on adjusted gross income on wealthy households, which would be phased in on income between $1 million and $2 million and would result in an estimated $54 billion in additional revenue. Small amounts of new revenue would also come from taxing oil derived from tar sands and from eliminating certain corporate tax deductions. The alternative spending reductions would come from $27.5 billion in cuts to defense over nine years beginning in 2015, as well as $27.5 billion in cuts to agricultural subsidies, including elimination of direct subsidy payments to farmers. The White House announced it would support Senator Reid’s proposal to avert and replace the sequester through the end of December 2013. However, the proposal in its current form is not expected to pass, due to significant opposition from Republicans in both chambers.