Free The Return of Elliott Eastman by Ignatius Ryan Page A

have spoken with the President,” he nodded in Paul Whites direction, “and he and I are personally in favor of extending it for the purpose of making Social Security solvent again. This would serve two goals; addressing the current crisis with Social Security and garnering the popular vote in this country.”
    “Gentlemen, and please correct me if I am wrong Mr. President, but I believe the President stands ready to make this the centerpiece of his re-election campaign, but there is another part of the plan. I’ve spoken with Bob Gates, the former Secretary of Defense, and he stands ready to cross the country giving stump speeches in support of what we intend to call the ‘War on the Deficit.’”
    Elliott paused for a moment and took a sip of water.
    “This is the other side of the ledger,” Elliott said pulling a second sheaf of papers from his brief case.
    “That is cuts to the spending side of the ledger. Do you know we have 1,118 military bases around the world? Again, I’ve spoken with Bob Gates and Secretary of Defense Bruce Holland and they are in agreement that almost half of these are redundant and superfluous. Hell, just one of our super carriers has more firepower and personnel than many of these bases. The savings from eliminating just four hundred of these bases is close to three hundred billion a year and we must not stop there. We must dust off some of the cuts that have been proposed time and time again over the years. Why do we send three billion a year to Pakistan, a country that reviles us, 1.3 billion to Egypt, six hundred million a year to Colombia, as well as many others? Those should go immediately. Personally I’m in favor of eliminating farm subsidies that would save 25 billion a year. Oil companies don’t need subsidies and tax credits from the American people. I’ve spoken with Dick Henghold, Director of the Office of Management and Budget. He and the President’s staff are putting together some numbers, but I imagine it could come close to two trillion a year in savings if properly enacted. I’m leaving the scope of the cuts up to the President and his staff, but I think cuts are a mandatory part of the whole package.
    “In summary, our proposal to the American people is decisive. It’s a massive source of revenue enhancement, but not on the backs of the average American family. In fact, it’s on those they perceive as fat cats, the money guys shuffling trillions each day, so it’s painless to the American people and it’s temporary. Seven years is the blink of an eye in the history of a nation. This is an idea whose time has come. Thank you very much.”
    Elliott sat down, exhaustion creeping into every muscle in his body. Again a sharp pain like a punch in the gut hit his right side. He bent forward slightly in his seat. Bob Gates leaned towards him with a look of concern on his face. Elliott straightened quickly and held up a hand holding Gates at bay. Not another man seated at the table noted anything different about the former Master Sergeant.
    The head of the United States Treasury, Anthony Lascala, rose to speak. “Elliott, gentlemen, I applaud the former senator’s eloquence and leadership, however I must caution all of us from becoming overly optimistic. Congress has shot down, time and again, proposals that are far less reaching than this. I believe much of this proposal is what we desperately need to do, but I doubt you’ll find a single congressperson to sponsor such a sweeping bill and few to support it in its entirety. You’ll have the banking industry, the Futures Industry of America and all the military contractors against you. You’re talking an army of lobbyists going against you.”
    “I’ve considered this and I intend to push back. If a congressman resists, we’ll expose him and the lobbyists backing him to the American people. We need to do this and we need to do this now,” Elliott replied.
    “And just how would you expose him?”
    “Leave that