House G.O.P. Lays Down Marker With New Budget Plan
Source: New York Times
By JONATHAN WEISMAN
Published: March 20, 2012
WASHINGTON — House Republicans, believing that worries over the deficit will trump affection for Medicare and other popular programs, will unveil a budget blueprint Tuesday morning that would cut deeply into domestic spending, transform the tax code and balance the budget by 2040.
Because tax revenues would remain unchanged, the deficit under the plan would be almost as deep as the red ink under President Obama’s feet in the fiscal year that begins in October. But by mid-decade it would drop precipitously, and over decades, significant changes to Medicaid and Medicare, the federal health care plans for the poor and the elderly, would help bring the budget into balance.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Ultimately, the House budget is a political document, since the Senate has no intention of passing a budget of its own.
The plan amounts to a political bet, with high stakes wagered by both parties.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/21/us/politics/house-republicans-release-budget-blueprint.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
GOP set to attempt to break law (B.C.A.)
This is the frame that Dems should use every time this gets brought up. The Dems and GOP negotiated a deficit reduction plan to raise the debt ceiling last year and now the GOP basically wants to renege on their end of the bargain (defense cuts) because of their totally unreasonable and uncompromising stance on increasing revenue to help pay down the deficit and now, in order to keep the defense spending but still reduce the deficit, they plan on carving more out of discretionary spending and, of course, attempting once more to "profitize" Medicare. I can't say I'm terribly surprised by any means that they are trying to wiggle out of their obligations but I just hope that enough people are paying attention to what is going on and don't fall for the GOP's BS and/or reward them politically for doing this- though, if their experience last year was any indication, they are making a bad gamble that this is going to somehow magically pay off for them.
