As Crowley wrote this morning, in reference to Republicans’ recent penchant for tossing out massive spending-cut targets and avoiding the specifics, “At some point the GOP will need to stop manufacturing debate and start manufacturing real budget cuts.” Right on cue, the Republican Study Committee offers up a plan that identifies $2.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next 10 years. “The Spending Reduction Act gives us a $2.5 trillion head start in the race to preserve the fiscal stability of the United States,” said Rep. Scott Garrett of New Jersey. “This bill represents the first step in the process, not the last.”
As a first step, it’s similar fare — a nice, big, round number that relies mostly on returning non-defense discretionary spending to 2006 levels. That amounts to $2.29 trillion of the total $2.5 trillion goal. The remainder of the cash would be recouped by scrapping or curtailing more than 100 specific programs, including familiar conservative bugbears like the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, slashing subsides for Amtrak and public broadcasting, privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. There are also major cuts recommended to the federal budget, from a 15% cut in the civilian workforce through attrition to a five-year moratorium on automatic annual raises. The above link has a list, and the Weekly Standard has another one here. These cuts are just nonbinding suggestions, and they comprise a fraction of the overall target. But they’re specific. That doesn’t mean the conference is willing to adopt them, or that a similar proposal would stand a chance in the Senate.