In a surprise announcement, the President said he hopes to improve literacy rates by dropping the number of letters children would need to memorize at the earliest stages of literacy development. In his proposal, released today, the Administration says it believes it can reduce the number of letters in the alphabet by at least 23% by 2016.

It is not known how Republicans in Congress will respond to the plan. While most Republicans favor downsizing in general, some of the more conservative members in the House have already suggested this morning that the President’s proposal was another example of overreaching, saying that issues concerning what letters to use should be left to families to decide without government intrusion. Some have even suggested that the alphabet should be allowed to expand beyond the current level of twenty six, claiming that letter creation has been stalled under the current administration due to high taxes and excessive government regulations.