Republican Study Committe rises to Tom Delay's challenge

Remember when Tom Delay said:

My answer to those that want to offset the spending is sure, bring me the offsets, I'll be glad to do it. But nobody has been able to come up with any yet.

Well, the Republican Study Committe has done just that:

The RSC released this report today [09/21/2005] at a press conference to discuss options for reducing federal spending as part of an RSC effort entitled "Operation Offset.

Table 7 of the report summarizes the proposed saving with $102 billion in 2006, $369 billion in 5 years and $949 billion in 10 years.

The document is well written with detail recommendations and a short paragraph providing the rationale for each recommendation. Some highlights (all number for 2006 Savings; longer term savings are greater in many instances):

• Delay the Medicare Programs for 1 year: $30.8 billion
• Repeal the Highway Earmarks in TEA-LU: $25 billion
• Eliminate Millennium Challenge Accounts: $1.7 billion
• Eliminate International Fund for Ireland: $14 million
• Cancel NASA's New Moon/Mars Initiative: $1.4 billion
• Eliminate the New Starts Transit Program $1.2 billion
• Verify Income of Earned Income Tax Credit Participants: $8.5 billion