The White House panel on reducing the deficit has failed to recommend the controversial proposals of its co-chairs to Congress. 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. On Friday, the proposals failed to gain the 14 votes needed from the panel’s 18 members to be sent to Congress. Panel member and former Service Employees International Union head Andy Stern voted against the recommendations.

Andy Stern: “And this plan deserves a vote, and this president needs to make sure that by the State of the Union he also has his own plan and his own leadership, because this is the issue of our time that must be solved. Now, I voted no, and it was despite my admiration for the effort. And I just feel strongly that we have two deficits in this country: a fiscal deficit and an investment deficit. And the investment deficit we also need to create a competitive, dynamic and growing economy.”

Despite the vote’s outcome, the panel’s recommendations could still be incorporated into President Obama’s budget plan early next year.