Mr. Obama said the proposal, which was designed by a group of lawmakers known as the "Gang of Six," represents a balanced approach to cutting the deficit that he has pushed for all along.
Mr. Obama, speaking at a White House press briefing, praised the deficit-reduction proposal as "a very significant step" and said there's been progress generally in the protracted deficit discussions. He asked congressional leaders to begin crafting a final plan Wednesday.
The plan is sweeping in its scope but was thought for months to be both overly ambitious and slightly ambiguous, which nearly led the effort to collapse in recent weeks. But the plan was revived, in part by its lead authors—Sens. Mark Warner (D., Va.) and Saxby Chambliss (R., Ga.)—and the flood of bipartisan support coming out of the meeting surprised them both, the lawmakers told.
"I think the vibe in the room was very positive," said Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R., N.H.), who attended the meeting. "My first impression is that this is a very credible plan."
The plan to slow the deficit by $3.7 trillion over 10 years would come from roughly 74% spending cuts and 26% new taxes, Mr. Conrad said.
Central parts of the plan would:
• Impose immediate spending cuts and caps that reduce the deficit by $500 billion over 10 years.
• Make changes to Social Security to make the program solvent over 75 years.
• Direct key congressional committees to find specific levels of deficit-reduction within their areas of jurisdiction. If the committees fail, then five Democratic and five Republican senators would be able to offer their own deficit-reduction plan as a replacement.
Meantime, House Republicans are embarking on a largely symbolic political mission, pushing for legislation that would cut spending by $5.8 trillion over 10 years, cap future spending and require Congress to approve a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget before raising the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion.
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