Washington, DC -- Today, Congressman and Blue Dog Co-Chair Heath Shuler (D-NC) will offer the Blue Dog Benchmarks for Fiscal Reform as an amendment to Chairman Paul Ryan's fiscal year 2012 budget proposal. The benchmarks, released last week by members of the Coalition, are an aggressive set of targets for long-term fiscal reform and deficit reduction that includes cutting the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 10 years, with the largest deficit cuts in history by 2014.
“Finding a budget that is right for our nation cannot be done along partisan lines. It must be done through open discussions and compromise,” said Congressman Shuler. “I am offering the Blue Dog Benchmarks for Fiscal Reform as an amendment to Chairman Ryan’s budget proposal because I believe we have to facilitate an open and honest discussion that will lead us to a bipartisan compromise down the road. The American people expect Congress to put partisan politics aside for the interest of the country’s long-term future. That is what the Blue Dogs are working for, and I am hopeful that we can do just that.”
The Blue Dogs have advocated keeping all options on the table in an effort to bring Republicans and Democrats together for a responsible, bipartisan discussion about the long-term fiscal health of the country. Following are the Blue Dog Benchmarks for Fiscal Reform:
o Largest deficit cuts in history by 2014
o Cut the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 10 years
o Stabilize the debt and maintain a debt ratio to 60 percent of GDP by 2024
o Return to 2008 spending levels by 2013
o Reduce the deficit to 2.3 percent of GDP in 4 years
o Reduce the size of government
o Achieve deficit reduction with 2/3 spending cuts, 1/3 tax reform
o Everything must be on the table:
o Discretionary Spending Cuts – both security and non-security
o Tax Reform
o Entitlement Reform
o Other Mandatory Policies
o Process Reforms
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Shuler to offer Blue Dog Benchmarks for Fiscal Reform during mark up of FY '12 budget proposal
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