As Congressional Republicans and Senate Democrats continue to negotiate a budget deal for the remainder of 2011, a top Republican unveiled his long-term spending plan today.
Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI), chair of the House Budget Committee, released his plan this morning where he said his budget "brings the size of government down" and caps its growth.
His proposal cuts $6 trillion dollars over the next decade by bringing non-security discretionary spending to 2008 levels, reforming Medicare by offering government-subsidized private insurance options and reforming Medicaid through state block grants.
Specifically, Rep. Ryan obtains most savings through four major programs. Over the next decade, his plan would cut Medicaid by $735 billion, Medicare by $389 billion, non-security discretionary spending by $923 billion, and health care spending $1.4 trillion by repealing health care reform.
He says his plan brings government spending to 20% GDP by 2015. (Last year, spending was 23.8% GDP.) Rep. Ryan's proposal also reduces revenue by $1.8 trillion over the next ten years by reforming the tax code and capping tax rates at 25%.
Ryan confirmed what he told "Fox News Sunday" that his budget is more aggressive than the proposal released by the President's bi-partisan Fiscal Commission, a panel on which he was a member. The Commission's proposal, released in December, closes the budget gap by cutting spending by $4 trillion dollars and raising taxes in the next decade.
Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), ranking member on the Budget Committee, responded to the proposal. He said, “Behind the sunny rhetoric of reform, the Republican Budget represents the rigid ideological agenda that extends tax cuts to the rich and powerful at the expense of the rest of America – except this time on steroids."
The House Budget Committee is scheduled to mark-up Ryan's proposal Wednesday.
Rep. Van Hollen said a Democratic alternative would be available by next Wednesday.
President Obama released his proposed budget in February.
Another set of lawmakers, known as the "Gang of Six," are also working on a long-term budget proposal. The bi-partisan group of Senators says everything is on the table: cuts to defense spending, entitlement reform and tax increases.
Short-Term Budget Negotiations
Meanwhile, House and Senate negotiators are working on a separate budget, the short-term spending bill to fund the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year. An agreement must be reached before midnight Friday to keep the government open.
President Obama gave a surprise briefing on budget negotiations, where he said "we are closer than we've ever been to getting an agreement" but "the last thing we need is a government shutdown." He said he would not sign another short-term continuing resolution with a compromise solution.
His announcement came just hours after main negotiators, Speaker Boehner, Senate Leader Reid, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee Hal Rogers (R-KY) and Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee Daniel Inouye (D-HI), met with President Obama at the White House this morning. The meeting was described by Speaker Boehner as fruitful but unsuccessful at reaching a deal.
Republicans offered another proposal to fund the government for one additional week but fund the military for the remainder of the year. Their one-week proposal would cut an additional $12 billion dollars from the budget.
Congress has passed six short-term spending measures since the fiscal year began October 1st.