Enzi and Others Propose So-Called “Penny Plan”

While the national budget deficit has been going down for years, a group of Republican senators including Wyoming’s Mike Enzi, have proposed a plan to speed that decline.

They have reintroduced what is called the “Penny Plan.” They explain it like this.

“The Penny Plan is simple. It would cut 1 percent from total federal spending for three years. That would balance the budget. The plan doesn’t mandate any specific cuts. Congress could make targeted reductions and focus on the worst first, but would be required to meet the 1 percent overall cut.

Everyone should be able to live with 1 percent less in order to help bring this country back from the brink of catastrophic fiscal failure, the senators said.

Once a balanced budget is achieved, the bill would place a cap on total spending each year. The new level of spending would be roughly 18 percent of America’s total economic output. Over a 10-year budget window, the bill would cut spending by about $7.6 trillion from currently projected levels.”

What is not said is that the plan in its original form takes 7 years, and then calls for strict limits on budgets after that. Critics say it is deceptively simple and would, in reality, make massive cuts in Defense, Social Security and Medicare. But the group which includes Senators Enzi, John Barrasso, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and others, say the cuts would be directed by Congress toward genuine waste.