Last Friday marked the date by which congressional committees could officially submit recommendations to the Joint Select Committee (supercommittee) regarding their efforts to put together a $1.2 trillion deficit reduction plan. As such, on October 13, members of both chambers offered the supercommittee their recommendations. House Democrats centered their recommendations on increasing taxes and seeking additional funding for initiatives they say would ultimately spur job growth. Included in the recommendations was a recommendation by Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that the supercommittee find ways to pay for a six-year surface transportation funding bill at a cost of $500 billion. Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee recommended additional fees on big banks as well as licensing Internet gambling, among other measures. Democratic members of the House Energy and Commerce urged the committee not to “pursue policies that would undermine coverage for Medicare, Medicaid, or people who will enroll in health insurance exchanges.” House Democrats’ health care recommendations also called on the supercommittee to maintain the current Medicare eligibility age and not to shift costs onto states or beneficiaries noting that shifting costs would do little if anything to reduce health care costs. They also recommended that the committee fix the funding issues regarding reimbursement levels for Medicare, although offered no specific solutions on how to make up the $300 billion cost that such a fix entails.

Additionally, Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee offered their own recommendations including the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and converting Medicaid into block grants. They also recommend a comprehensive review of Medicare provider payments, as well as asking the committee to consider requiring higher-income Medicare beneficiaries to pay more for their benefits. House Financial Services Republicans urged the committee to consider “proposals to facilitate capital formation and reduce excessive regulatory burdens.” They also urged the committee to consider significantly reducing the size of, or eliminating, programs within the Department of Housing and Urban Development such as the Community Development Block Grant Program.

House and Senate Agriculture committee leaders recommended approximately $23 billion in spending cuts. This recommendation would include cuts in direct payments to producers that would reduce or eliminate $5 billion a year in payments. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee leaders Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) backed a freeze in federal civilian pay, changes to federal employee retirement programs and efforts to control contractor costs. They also said they are working on legislation that would overhaul the U.S. Postal Service (see below). Leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee John Rockefeller (D-WV) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) called for auctions of radio spectrum to raise revenues.

Overall, members of the Joint Select Committee continue to release very few, if any, details about their negotiations leaving the question of whether or not they are closing in on a deficit reduction package unanswered.

Link: House Democrats Supercommittee Recommendations