House Republicans Unveil New Budget Blueprint
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Michael Bonfigli /Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan is unveiling his latest budget blueprint that proposes significant tax and entitlement reform for fiscal year 2013, but is likely to draw the disdain of congressional Democrats.
“We assumed there would be some who would distort for political gain our efforts to preserve programs like Medicare,” Ryan, R-Wis., wrote in the Wall Street Journal this morning. “Having been featured in an attack ad literally throwing an elderly woman off a cliff, I can confirm that those assumptions were on the mark. But one year later, we can say with some confidence that the attacks have failed. Courageous Democrats have joined our efforts. And bipartisan opposition to the path of broken promises is growing.”
Ryan is holding a morning news conference with reporters on Capitol Hill before heading to the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute to deliver a speech on his updated budget, a 99-page document titled “The Path to Prosperity: A Blueprint for American Renewal.”
Ryan’s proposal claims less than $5 trillion relative to the president’s budget proposal, and spends $3.5 trillion less over 10 years than the current spending levels. It also brings deficits below 3 percent of GDP by 2015.
“This budget offers a blueprint for safeguarding America from the perils of debt, doubt and decline. Americans, not Washington, deserve to choose the path their nation takes, and this budget resents a clear choice between the bleak future toward which the nation is currently headed and the prosperous future that Americans can build together with a government that is limited and effective,” Ryan wrote in the budget.
“This budget serves as a blueprint for American renewal. Its principled reforms empower individuals with greater control over their futures. It places great faith in the wisdom of the Founders and promises to renew confidence in the superiority of human freedom. The choice of two futures presented in this budget is premised on the wisdom of the American people to build a prosperous future for themselves and for generations of Americans to come.”
House Ways and Means chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., also contributed his input in crafting proposed changes to the tax code. The plan would consolidate the six individual income-tax brackets into just two brackets of 10 percent and 25 percent. Ryan and Camp also propose to reduce the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent and call for an end to the alternative minimum tax credit.
One suggestion Democrats are likely to resist is the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. House Democrats have mounted opposition to the budget, instead highlighting the two-year anniversary of the president’s health care law.
Ryan partnered with Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon late last year to craft an alternative to Medicare that would let beneficiaries use premiums to buy into traditional Medicare as well as opt into private insurance.
Ryan is set to begin marking up his bill in committee Wednesday.
Republicans hope to have the budget resolution on the floor for consideration by the end of the month, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said the Senate will not consider a budget for the third straight year. Instead, Senate Democrats have insisted Republicans adhere to spending levels agreed to in the Budget Control Act.
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