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Monday, September 12, 2011

Obama Double Dipping to Pay for New Stimulus

Members of the bipartisan deficit "super committee" are on edge as President Obama calls for Congress to pass his $447 billion jobs plan, fretting that the stimulus-style proposal makes their task that much harder. 
The president, who is sending his plan to Congress Monday evening, claims the bill will not add to the deficit. The White House says that over the next two weeks, Obama will spell out exactly how he intends to pay for the proposals, and then some. 
But the task of offsetting the cost of the bill will ultimately fall to the bipartisan committee. That committee already is charged with finding about $1.5 trillion in deficit savings by Thanksgiving -- Obama's bill brings their target to about $2 trillion. Though the president plans to give the committee a roadmap to reaching that larger target, Republican members expressed concern that the latest request will make it much harder to drum up enough avenues for deficit reduction in a mere two-month timeframe. 
"This proposal would make the already-arduous challenge of finding bipartisan agreement on deficit reduction nearly impossible, removing our options for deficit reduction for a plan that won't reduce the deficit by one penny," committee co-chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, said in a statement. 
Obama, outlining how he plans to find additional savings, pointed to exactly the same targets the super committee was already looking at. The president mentioned three possible sources of money-- eliminating or reducing some tax deductions, making changes in entitlements such as Medicare and Medicaid and making wealthier households pay "their fair share," a reference to tax increases.  - FOX News

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