The White House panel on reducing the deficit meanwhile has released its final report calling for widespread cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Panel co-chairs Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson want to raise the retirement age for Social Security to 69 by 2075, decrease the cost of living benefits for Social Security recipients, impose new limits on the Medicare health insurance program, and end several middle-class tax breaks while reducing income taxes for corporations. The panel will hold a vote on Friday on whether to send the recommendations to Congress. Labor unions and progressive economists have blasted the plan. In a statement, Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO said, “With this report the Deficit Commission once again tells working Americans to 'Drop Dead.' No proposal on fiscal issues is serious that leaves the Bush tax cuts for the rich in place while raising taxes on the middle class and slashing Social Security and Medicare.”