Schakowsky Introduces Deficit-Reduction Plan

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky introduced a plan to reduce the federal deficit $427.8 billion by 2015, her office announced. The plan, introduced Tuesday in Washington, D.C., calls for both enhancing revenue and cutting expenditures, and will not reduce Social Security benefits, the Democrat said.

Schakowsky, a member of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, represents the 9th Congressional District, which includes all or parts of Evanston, Skokie, Morton Grove, Niles, Des Plaines, Glenview, Wilmette and Chicago. 

Schakowsky's statement said the plan introduced last week by Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, co-chairs of President Obama's fiscal commission, places too heavy a burden on the middle class, and she designed her own plan to protect lower- and middle-class Americans. 

Her plan includes five highlights: 

1) Increased economic stimulus to spur growth in the immediate term.

2) Targeted spending cuts in non-defense discretionary and defense discretionary spending. 

3) Mandatory spending cuts by bringing down the cost of health care to the federal government, cutting agriculture subsidies and other measures.

4) Raising $132.2 billion by closing tax subsidies for certain businesses.

5) Increasing revenues by raising $144.6 billion through estate tax reforms, allowing the Bush tax cuts for the top two brackets to expire and identifying where the private sector is underpaying.