The GOP's little blue book borrows a few ideas from the Dems

The GOP Blue Book: "Better Solutions: a Compilation of GOP Alternatives" outlines the Republican Party's ideas on everything from fiscal responsibility to national security.Anyone watching the political events of last week had to notice one publication constantly appearing in the hands of Republican politicians.

Virginia's new Republican Governor Bob McDonnell referred viewers to an online copy during his rebuttal to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Oh., and Minority Whip Eric Cantor handed  Obama a copy when they introduced him at the Republican retreat Friday. Boehner held up a copy several times on his Meet the Press appearance Sunday. 

The publication getting so much press last week was "Better Solutions: a Compilation of GOP Alternatives." The blue, 27-page spiral-bound book outlines the Republican Party's ideas on everything from fiscal responsibility to national security.

Boehner told NBC's David Gregory on Meet the Press that the GOP released the compilation, "so you and the president can't call us the party of no; the party of no ideas." 

During his satire of McDonnell's State of the Union rebuttal, Stephen Colbert mocked the brevity of "Better Solutions" and said it employed techniques for filling pages "usually reserved for eigth grade term papers."

Although many television pundits and some politicians have declared any bipartisan cooperation unlikely, several items suggested by Obama in the State of the Union are also in "Better Solutions."  Among the areas of agreement between the President and House Republicans:

• A spending freeze on discretionary spending.
• Tax breaks for small businesses (The GOP calls for a deduction of 20 percent of small business income while Obama proposed a $5,000 tax credit for every job created and the elimination of capital gains tax on small business investment).
• Expansion of nuclear power.
• Government funding for research in renewable energy.
• Expand American exports through the ratification of new free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

Here is a look at some of the solutions proposed in the House Republican leadership by category: 

Jobs:

This section opens with a Dec. 9, 2009, letter to Obama from the House Republican leadership, which says "small business, not government, is the engine of job creation in America" and job creation should be stimulated without additional government spending.

The GOP leadership also says their budget would create 2.1 million more jobs than the Democrats' budget through a reduction of the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent.

The Republican approach stresses that "the threat of increased taxes, new government regulation, and costly government mandates" is holding employers back from new hires. To address this problem, the GOP recommends:

• In order to eliminate the possibility of government action deterring employment, the GOP suggests the delay of any new rule or regulation "expected to have an economic cost, result in job loss, or a have a disparate impact on small businesses." 
• The summary also urges a "bipartisan commitment to blocking...tax increases at least until unemployment is below five percent again." Unemployment was last beneath five percent in Feb. 2008.
• A domestic, discretionary spending freeze.
• Reduce the depreciation schedule for property to 20 years from 39 and a half years.
• Remove "regulatory barriers" on domestic energy production.
• Create a limited window for the repatriation of corporate overseas earnings where companies would pay drastically less than the 35 percent corporate tax rate on funds returned to the U.S. in that time window. 

To improve the unemployment system Republicans suggest: 

• Require those receiving unemployment benefits to "engage in education, training or enhanced job search."
• Require states to adopt programs that put unemployment recipients in part-time jobs where the employers may chose to hire them at the end of a six-week trial period.  The pay for these part-time jobs would be the unemployment benefits.
• Suspending the unemployment tax.

The costs of both the earnings-repatriation window, and the suspension of the unemployment tax, would be offset by a "reduction in improper government payments." Those payments totaled $98 billion in 2009 according to the White House. 

Page 8 presents a list from Jan. 2009 of alternatives to the Democratic stimulus package. Some of these, like a home-buyer tax credit and the extension of unemployment insurance benefits, were enacted by the Democratically-controlled Congress. The other items on the list are included in other sections of the document.

Health Care:

"Better Solutions" dedicates two pages to a summary of the GOP plan for health care reform. The first item in the summary is lowering health care premiums. This goal is identified as the "number-one priority for health care reform" but does not provide specifics on how this will be accomplished.

Other elements in the GOP's health care reform:

• Tort reform
• Universal Access Programs that "expand and reform high-risk pools" to provide access to care for Americans with pre-existing conditions.
• Stop insurers from "unjustly cancelling a policy unless a person commits fraud or conceals material facts about a health condition."
• Allow small businesses to pool their insurance together.
• Payments to states that reduce premiums.
• Allowing people to buy insurance across state lines.
• Greater focus on preventive care.
• Allowing young Americans to remain on their parents' plans until age 25.

Deficit reduction:

Throughout "Better Solutions" the Republican leadership expresses concern at government spending and borrowing from "our nation's children and grandchildren." According to the document, the Republican budget is $4.8 trillion less than that of the Democrats over the next 10 years and would borrow $3.6 trillion less. Their budget would also impose $1.5 trillion less in taxes by making the Bush tax cuts permanent and "fixing" the Alternative Minimum Tax.

The Republican budget calls for the savings from the Democratic budget to be used to increase defense spending by $5 billion.

A two-page table then lists specific budget items to reduce government spending. Among the cuts and their potential savings:

• "Common sense spending caps" ($317 billion).
• Devote repaid TARP money to deficit reduciton ($45 billion).
• Consolidate federal arts program ($60 million).
• Enforcing food stamp eligibility requirements ($1.7 billion).

The next six pages of the 27-page document is made up of a list of 222 economists who signed a statement calling for job creation and reduced government spending.

Energy:

The GOP energy plan calls for increased domestic energy production. Their proposals to meet that goal include: 

• Almost doubling the number of nuclear reactors.
• Removing the prohibition on government purchases of oil shale, tar sands and coal-to-liquid technology.
• Tax credits for the production of renewable energy.
• Oil drilling along the Outer Continental Shelf.
• Allowing oil exploration in the Arctic Coastal Plain.
• Leased access to oil shale on federal land.
• A 60-day deadline on legal challenges to energy exploration and requiring such lawsuits to be reviewed in Washington, D.C. to avoid forum shopping.
• Opening new domestic refineries.
• A $50 million prize to the first U.S. manufacturer to sell 50,000, 100 mpg vehicles.

National Security: 

This section focuses on the "Keep Terrorists Out of America Act," which was introduced May 7, 2009. This bill is dedicated to blocking the transfer of Guantanamo Bay prisoners to the United States.

Financial Reform: 

The Republicans say they wish to create new protections for investors and consumers while guaranteeing that taxpayers would never again be required to save large financial institutions as they did in 2008 and 2009. Their list of principles calls for no more bailouts, allowing bankrupt firms to fail and restoring market discipline. Their plan to meet these goals includes: 

• Creating a new bankruptcy chapter designed to handle the failure of "large non-bank institutions." 
• Creating a Market Stability and Capital Adequacy Board that would not have enforcement power but would identify threats to the financial system.
• Streamlining federal financial regulatory agencies.
• Directing the Government Accountability Office to audit the Federal Reserve.
• Phasing out government sponsorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
• Removing all federal regulations and laws regarding credit rating agencies.
• Requiring institutions to disclose all "policies, procedures, guidelines, standards and regulatory filings" on their Websites.
• Increasing the civil and criminal penalties for fraud.