WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A presidential commission on balancing the U.S. budget likely will fail on Wednesday to secure enough support for its deficit-cutting plan to trigger a congressional vote on it, aides and analysts said.

With just a day left before a deadline to produce a plan, the commission’s co-chairmen were still scrambling to nail down 14 votes among the commission’s 18 members — a super-majority threshold set when the panel was created in February.

WASHINGTON, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Warning of a spiraling of
debt unless the U.S. government takes action soon to balance
the budget, a group of experts on Wednesday called for a
one-year holiday in 2011 from the Social Security tax, a new
tax on soft drinks and a new 6.5-percent national sales tax.

In an ambitious plan to slash the federal deficit and
national debt, the group also called for freezes on government
spending, lower and simpler income and corporate tax rates as
well as major changes to the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Monday that he would join his fellow Republicans in opposing earmarks, bowing to pressure from Tea Party activists who see the special project funding as a prime example of out-of-control government spending.

Speaking from the Senate floor, McConnell said that after discussing the issue with his constituents in Kentucky and fellow Republicans he supports the ban against earmarks.

WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Leaders of a presidential
commission proposed raising taxes and the retirement age among
bold ideas on Wednesday for slashing the U.S. budget deficit,
but faced a difficult task in winning the support of Congress.

Days after voters vented their fury over government red ink
in midterm elections, commission co-chairmen Erskine Bowles and
Alan Simpson floated proposals that they said would bring $4
trillion in deficit reduction through 2020.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The co-chairmen of a presidential commission to cut the budget deficit on Wednesday proposed reducing benefits and raising the U.S. pension retirement age among an array of tax and spending changes.

Taking aim at some of Washington’s most politically explosive fiscal issues, the draft proposals were portrayed as achieving $4 trillion in deficit reduction through 2020, but they got a mixed reception from other commission members.

WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) – A presidential commission
exploring ways to balance the U.S. government’s budget has
scheduled a press briefing for Wednesday at 1 p.m. (1800 GMT)
to discuss proposals being put forward by its co-chairmen.

The 18-member panel, formed this year by President Barack
Obama, held a closed-door session on Capitol Hill on Wednesday
morning. It faces a Dec. 1 deadline to produce a final report
on cutting the national debt and budget deficit.

WASHINGTON, Nov 7 (Reuters) – Congressional Republicans
said on Sunday they plan a full-scale assault against President
Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul next year but acknowledged
it could take until after the 2012 presidential election to
repeal it.

Representative Paul Ryan, expected to become chairman of
the House Budget Committee chairman, said his fellow
Republicans will try to deny funding for implementation of the
healthcare legislation and hold hearings to point out its
shortcomings when the new Congress convenes in January.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration’s latest estimate of taxpayer costs of the Wall Street bailout is too rosy and could ultimately damage public trust in government, the top bailout cop said on Monday.

In its quarterly report to Congress, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said the Treasury Department’s bailout cost estimate for American International Group was an example of using misleading numbers to paint a positive pre-election account of the program.