White House Promises Long-Term Deficit Reduction Plan

President Obama on Wednesday will propose a broad plan to reduce significantly deficits in the coming years, according to the White House.

This is a promising indication that the President will become more focused on the most serious long-term fiscal challenges facing the country. Up until now, he seemed to be ignoring many of the solid recommendations that were developed last year by a bipartisan majority of his National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

On Monday Jay Carney, White House press secretary, said Obama would “very clearly lay out his vision for deficit reduction — the need for it to be balanced; the need for it to be bipartisan; the need for it to address the long-term drivers of our debt and for everyone to share in the burden of bringing our fiscal house into order.”

Carney also indicated that Obama’s new plan would contrast sharply with one recently released by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan.

David Plouffe, a senior White House aide, said on Sunday the president would suggest not just domestic spending cuts but additional government revenue and significant cuts in the Pentagon budget, as his fiscal commission and other bipartisan groups have suggested.

External links:
White House Press Briefing
Transcript of Plouffe Interview on “Meet the Press”