Commission's Final Deficit Report Preserves Controversial Spending Cuts; Panel to Vote Friday on Whether to Endorse Plan

washingtonpost.com — The leaders of President Obama's fiscal commission released a final report Wednesday that is full of political dynamite, including sharp cuts in military spending, a higher retirement age and tax reforms that could cost the average taxpayer an extra $1,700 a year.

But as commission co-chairmen Erskine Bowles and Alan K. Simpson unveiled the plan at a Capitol Hill hearing, it was unclear whether they would be able to build a convincing bipartisan consensus among the panel's members before they are scheduled to vote on it Friday.

The final plan to rebalance the federal budget would cut government spending even deeper than the commission's original proposal, while offering more help to some retirees. It offers an aggressive prescription for reducing deficits by nearly $4 trillion by the end of the decade.