–Admin Officials Say Plan to Call For $1.5 Trln in New Revenues
–Obama Plan to Call For $580 Bln in Entitlement Savings
–Plan Counts $1.1 Trln From Less War Costs From Troop Drawdown
–Debt Hike Deal, New Plan Results in $4.4 Trln in 10-Year Savings

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – President Barack Obama will unveil Monday
morning a revamped fiscal plan that identifies more than $3 trillion in
budget savings over a decade, two senior administration officials said
in a Sunday evening conference call.

In the briefing, the officials said Obama will outline the new plan
Monday morning and send it to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit
Reduction for consideration.

Of the $3 trillion in budget savings, about $1.5 trillion would
come from additional revenues. Further details will be release after the
President announces the plan in a 10:30 a.m. (1430 GMT) Rose Garden
presentation.

Of this sum, about $800 billion would come from allowing the Bush
tax cuts to expire for those making over $250,000 and about $700 billion
would come from closing tax loopholes and eliminating various deductions
and credits.

The President’s plan would also claim more than $1.1 trillion in
savings by winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The package also will include about $580 billion in entitlement
savings. Of these savings, about $248 billion will come from Medicare
reforms and $72 billion from Medicaid adjustments, the officials said.
As the result of this package, the nation’s debt service costs would
decline by $430 billion.

The officials said Obama will make clear that while he is offering
health care cuts, he will veto any plan that does not also share the
burden of the fiscal reform with the wealthiest Americans.

“Everyone, including millionaires and billionaires, have to pay
fair share,” one official said, echoing Obama’s oft-stated position.

The officials said that when Obama’s new package of more than $3
trillion in budget savings is coupled with the $1.2 trillion in savings
from this summer’s debt ceiling agreement, the total budget savings come
to about $4.4 trillion over a decade

The overall Obama fiscal package, the administration officials
said, “would put us on a more sustainable course” and begin to reduce
debt as a percentage of the economy.

The officials said Obama will offer a “broad call for tax reform,”
in his remarks Monday, and show how it can be accomplished, so he hopes
his proposal will “start that debate.”

The officials said Obama will argue that tax reform should be
guided by the “Buffett Rule” which contends that people making more than
$1 million a year should not pay a lower tax rate than those in the
middle class.

The officials said this “Buffett Rule” should “guide tax reform” as
it is debated in the congressional panel. The deficit reduction panel
will meet again this Thursday to discuss tax reform.

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is charged to
submit a report to Congress by Nov. 23, 2011 that reduces the deficit by
$1.5 trillion between 2012 and 2021.

The final package, if one is agreed to by the majority of the
panel’s 12 members, must be voted on without amendment by the House and
Senate by Dec. 23, 2011.

If the panel fails to agree on a spending cut package or Congress
rejects its plan, a budget enforcement trigger would secure $1.2
trillion in budget savings through across-the-board cuts.

The cuts would be equally divided between defense and non-defense
programs but would exempt Social Security, Medicaid and low-income
programs.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

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