GOP Lays Out Controversial Plan to Cut Budget Deficit
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Republicans controlling the House laid out plans to cut the budget deficit by roughly $5 trillion over the next decade by mixing new spending cuts with the restructuring of the taxpayer-financed health care for the elderly and poor.
The plan is non-binding , and with the Democrats controlling the Senate, the GOP plan is likely to be a framework for the upcoming elections. The program has little real chance of passing Congress and becoming law.
The plan was brought forth by House Budget Committee Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and it far reaches past the $1 trillion in cuts outlined by President Barack Obama in February.
The plan includes a controversial proposal to convert traditional Medicare health plans for the elderly into a system that would see the government provide payments for private health insurance plans.
Current Medicare beneficiaries or workers age 55 and older would stay on the current system under the plan, but those not eligible would see Medicare coverage that would operate like a voucher system. Experts believe that the plan will not keep pace with traditional inflation in the medical market.
The GOP did not offer a component to curb Social Security, which is seen as untouchable heading into elections.
The plan also calls for cuts to the operating budgets of domestic agencies, slashing Obama's requests for programs like education, law enforcement and homeland security.
The plan, if enacted into law, would cut the budget deficit to $995 billion next year and wouldn't drop below $400 billion until 2018. Under the Obama budget, the deficit would fall to $1.1 trillion next year and $774 billion in 2021.
The budget deficit is currently projected to be $1.6 trillion for the current fiscal year.
The plan is non-binding , and with the Democrats controlling the Senate, the GOP plan is likely to be a framework for the upcoming elections. The program has little real chance of passing Congress and becoming law.
The plan was brought forth by House Budget Committee Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and it far reaches past the $1 trillion in cuts outlined by President Barack Obama in February.
The plan includes a controversial proposal to convert traditional Medicare health plans for the elderly into a system that would see the government provide payments for private health insurance plans.
Current Medicare beneficiaries or workers age 55 and older would stay on the current system under the plan, but those not eligible would see Medicare coverage that would operate like a voucher system. Experts believe that the plan will not keep pace with traditional inflation in the medical market.
The GOP did not offer a component to curb Social Security, which is seen as untouchable heading into elections.
The plan also calls for cuts to the operating budgets of domestic agencies, slashing Obama's requests for programs like education, law enforcement and homeland security.
The plan, if enacted into law, would cut the budget deficit to $995 billion next year and wouldn't drop below $400 billion until 2018. Under the Obama budget, the deficit would fall to $1.1 trillion next year and $774 billion in 2021.
The budget deficit is currently projected to be $1.6 trillion for the current fiscal year.
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