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POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS

Republicans’ Latest Supercommittee Offer: $181 in Spending Cuts for Each $1 in Revenue Increases

Republicans on the supercommittee have made a new offer that would reduce deficits by $640 billion over the next decade, according to news reports (here and here).  The Republican offer consists of roughly $542 billion in spending cuts and $3 billion in revenues, meaning the ratio of spending cuts to revenue increases in the plan is 181 to 1. These measures would also produce nearly $100 billion in debt-service savings.  Democrats promptly rejected the new Republican offer as unbalanced.

When one includes the $900 billion in discretionary spending cuts already enacted in the Budget Control Act, the plan’s total deficit reduction rises to about $1.445 trillion, and its ratio of spending cuts to revenue increases rises to 481 to 1.

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