Deficit-Cutting Proposal Would Balance U.S. Budget by 2035
This article is for subscribers only.
A proposal awaiting a vote by President Barack Obama’s deficit-cutting commission would eliminate $3.8 trillion in federal spending by 2020 and balance the budget by 2035.
The plan would raise the Social Security retirement age, slow the growth in benefits and increase the amount of income subject to the program’s payroll tax. On health care, it would cut reimbursements to doctors participating in Medicare, clamp down on medical-malpractice suits, reduce subsidies to hospitals that train doctors and set a cap on federal health-care costs.