Jay plan: ; Sensible approach

As Congress continues bitter debate about cutting the nationaldeficit, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is making 18 specificproposals he says will trim $1.29 trillion from the federal budgetover the next decade.

Rockefeller thinks his proposals, contained in 11 bills he issponsoring, will help Congress avoid making "any destructive cuts toprograms for the elderly, poor and working families." Here areseveral of his reforms:

* Cut the ability of big companies to ship jobs overseas, thenhide profits they make in low-income countries.

* Eliminate special tax breaks for Big Oil companies, companiesalready reaping record profits at gas pumps.

* End tax loopholes for yachts - loopholes that allow yachtowners to claim "home mortgage interest deductions" when makingpayments for their boats.

* Eliminate ethanol subsidies, which have "done little to reduceour dependence on foreign oil and had dubious environmentaleffects."

* Crack down on illegal Internet gambling operated by foreigncompanies, which avoid paying any income taxes in the United States.

* Cap itemized federal tax deductions at 28 percent of annualincome.

* Agree not to extend existing tax breaks, or to create any newtax breaks, for millionaires until the federal deficit has beeneliminated.

* Restore capital gains taxes eliminated by former PresidentGeorge W. Bush.

"Today, a steelworker pays the full tax rate on his income,"Rockefeller stated. "But a Wall Street trader pays only 15 percenton his income from investments."

Bravo. This is a superb strategy for America. It protects the all-important "safety net" of programs sustaining millions of U.S.families. In recent months, Rockefeller, who chairs the SenateCommerce Committee, has been particularly vigorous in defendingSocial Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

To his list, we add our favorite: Downsize the mammoth U.S.military, which gobbles $1 trillion from American taxpayers yearly.There's no reason for America to be the armed colossus of planetEarth, spending more for warmaking than nearly the entire rest ofhumanity.

Some of Rockefeller's proposals are sure to draw flak fromRepublicans, who control the House of Representatives. In a stunningIndependence Day commentary, conservative columnist David Brookssaid the GOP "has been infected by a faction that is more of apsychological protest than a practical, governing alternative."Republican "fanatics" in Congress, he said, have made tax cuts forthe rich "a sacred fixation." They would bankrupt the federalgovernment and hurt America, rather than compromise one inch, Brookswrote.

But we hope that sanity will return in the Washington standoffover deficits. If it happens, Rockefeller's strategy may have achance for passage, as Congress faces the maddening task of bringingthe ruinous U.S. debt under control.