For the first time in eight years, Connie Mack will not be living in Washington D.C. — at least part of the time — when the new Congress convenes in early January.
The 44-year-old Fort Myers Representative gave up his safe Congressional seat to run for U.S. Senate, and we all know what happened there — Mack had his clock cleaned, losing by 13 points to Bill Nelson last month.
Mack will start a new life next month, but his ideas are still alive. Well, at least one of them.
Remember the "Penny Plan"? That's the idea that Mack began espousing last year. It's defined by PolitiFact as such:
The math works like this: For six years, the federal government would reduce spending by 1 percent each year. In the seventh year, funding would be capped at 18 percent of gross domestic product, which measures the size of the overall economy. By the eighth year, the plan would balance the budget and save $7.5 trillion over 10 years.
If Congress and the president couldn't reach an agreement about what to cut, the plan would trigger automatic across-the-board spending cuts.
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2012.