Stung by criticism in an op-ed piece in today's New York Times, the White House continued its aggressive campaign to push back on issues related to automatic budget cuts set to hit on March 1, rejecting talk that the President has not been specific on what he wants to do on the budget.
"For anyone reading David Brooks' column, here is the President's detailed sequester plan that he (Brooks) doesn't think exists," said White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer.
Pfeiffer has been out front on social media in exchanging shots with Republicans on Capitol Hill about the sequester; earlier this week he used a blog post on the White House web site to slam Republicans for trying to pin the blame on the White House for the idea of the across the board cuts.
As for what aggravated Pfeiffer before the sun was up on Friday - the David Brooks column in the New York Times skewered the White House for using "vague-but-politically-convenient" political arguments in the fight over automatic budget cuts.
"The President hasn't actually come up with a proposal to avert sequestration, let alone one that is politically plausible," Brooks wrote.
Pfeiffer though said there was a detailed plan, and he directed people to a White House document that works in past deficit reduction, and bullet points of what the President would like to achieve. Here is what the White House produced:
THE PRESIDENT'S LAST OFFER TO SPEAKER BOEHNER IS STILL ON TABLE: MORE THAN $1.5 TRILLION IN ADDITIONAL DEFICIT REDUCTION
Spending Reductions - Even split between defense and nondefense discretionary savings $200 billion
• Non-defense discretionary spending $100 billion
• Defense discretionary spending $100 billion
Health savings - $400 billion – could be achieved by:
• Reduce payments to drug companies $140 billion
• Reduce hospital payments such as reimbursement for patients who don't pay $30 billion
• Encourage efficient care after a hospital stay $50 billion
• Encourage beneficiaries to seek high value health care and ask the most fortunate to pay more $35 billion
• Medicaid, Pay-for-Delay, IPAB, program integrity $25 billion
• Other health savings $120 billion
Non-health Mandatory Savings - $200 billion – could be achieved by:
• Eliminate certain subsidies for agriculture $30 billion
• Reform Federal retirement programs $35 billion
• Reform postal service and TSA passenger security fees $40 billion
• Strengthen solvency of UI trust fund $50 billion
• Other savings including Spectrum Fees, Sales of Excess Property, & Program Integrity $45 billion
Spending Savings from Superlative CPI with protections for vulnerable $130 billion
Subtotal, Total New Spending Reductions $930 billion + $200 billion interest savings
Revenue
Limit tax deductions to 28% for the wealthiest and close other loopholes $580 billion (+$100 billion from CPI change)
Temporary Growth Measures
Immediate investments in infrastructure -$50
TOTAL DEFICIT REDUCTION
Deficit Reduction to Date More than $2,500
New Deficit Reduction $1,800
Total Deficit Reduction More than $4,300
It should be noted that the White House document does not specifically mention a tax break that has been routinely ridiculed in recent days by the White House spokesman, as Jay Carney has repeatedly called for Republicans to abandon favorable tax treatment for corporate jets.
In fact, the tax portion of this document only mentions limiting tax deductions for "the wealthiest" and closing "other loopholes."
In other words, it's not 100% specific.
You can see the document in full here.
