The Senate GOP has introduced an alternative to the fatally flawed (and now failed) Conrad/Gregg commission proposal. The CARFA Act, modeled after the successful BRAC process, stands a real chance of providing benefits without increasing the burden on taxpayers. From our letter endorsing CARFA:
We write to urge you to support the amendment implementing the CARFA Act, which would set up a BRAC-style spending-only commission. After a series of government bailouts, the trillion dollar spending and debt package passed under the guise of “economic stimulus,” and an overall increase in federal spending, taxpayers demand that Congress take action. Thankfully, the Senate has already rejected what would have been the wrong course of action: The Conrad/Gregg commission proposal, which would have led to a guaranteed tax increase because of the way it was structured.
Unlike the Conrad/Gregg commission, the CARFA Act, which would create a task force modeled after the Defense Base Closure Realignment Commission (BRAC) is a prudent mechanism to address our nation’s fiscal problems. The BRAC process led to the successful closure of military bases that were underused. Put in place by Congress in 1990, it would not have worked if it had been tasked with either closing unnecessary bases or raising taxes to pay for unnecessary bases. It worked precisely because it had one job: to save taxpayer money by closing unnecessary bases, and that is the model we should follow now.