U.S. House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan presented his new federal budget blueprint today. As before, he would end Medicare as a single-payer system for all Americans under age 55, slash spending on programs for the poor such as food stamps and Medicaid, and cut taxes for some, though the details there are fuzzy. He would not cut the defense budget or Social Security. Ryan says his budget would be balanced in 10 years, but he relies on some assumptions that won’t happen, such as repeal of the 2010 health care reform law.
I’ve enclosed Iowa political reaction to the Ryan budget below and will update this post as needed.
Governor Terry Branstad’s statement tries to resurrect the myth that he inherited a fiscal mess, but in fact Iowa’s state budget was in surplus before he was elected in 2010.
Branstad and Reynolds commend Paul Ryan for offering a balanced, sustainable budget
March 12, 2013
Gov. Terry E. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds today commended Congressman Paul Ryan for offering a budget that will balance and is sustainable.“I applaud Paul Ryan for making the tough decisions to balance the federal budget, and return predictability and stability to the federal government,” said Branstad. “It should not be too much to ask to have a balanced budget, let alone one that will balance in 10 years. If left unchecked, Washington will continue its path to financial ruin. Paul Ryan is offering a thoughtful budget and continues to show leadership. It is not fair to continue to pile up debt on future generations.
“In Iowa, we faced a significant budget shortfall, and we turned it around by restoring proper budget practices. We worked in a bipartisan manner to balance our budget, and it is time for Washington to do the same.
“America cannot spend our way out of this problem, and we instead must grow our economy. Paul Ryan’s plan provides a solid foundation to grow our economy.”
Reynolds noted the stability this will bring for job creators.
“Job creators in this country have faced too many fiscal cliffs, sequesters, and too much uncertainty at the national level,” said Reynolds. “While the U.S. Senate has not passed a budget in four years, the Federal government has continued to pile up trillion dollar deficits. This lack of fiscal discipline and an inability to set clear priorities is not acceptable. The system is broken, and Paul Ryan’s budget is a badly-needed fix that avoids placing a growing debt burden on our children and grandchildren. I am proud of Paul Ryan’s courage and leadership, and I hope the U.S. Senate leadership will work in a bipartisan fashion to craft a balanced budget.
“The Ryan plan will replace the rigid, one-size-fits-all federal programs and instead offers states the flexibility to make these programs work for the people they serve.”
The Iowa Democratic Party released this statement in response.
DES MOINES – Iowa Democratic Party Chair Tyler Olson issued the following statement in response to Governor Terry Branstad’s endorsement of Rep. Paul Ryan’s proposed budget.
“Governor Branstad’s endorsement of the Paul Ryan Budget once again shows why we need new leadership in the Governor’s Office.
“The Ryan Budget is simply more of the same failed policies the American people rejected during the last presidential election. Paul Ryan wants to protect tax breaks for Wall Street while cutting services for those on Main Street. He continues to try to end Medicare as we know it and double seniors’ out-of-pocket expenses. And he proposes the same kind of austerity measures we know will kill hundreds of thousands of jobs and stop our economic recovery.
“It is not surprising that Terry Branstad, who was known for keeping two sets of books during his first stint as Governor, would embrace a budget that uses as much funny math as this one does. After railing against the President’s $716 billion in Medicare savings, Paul Ryan puts it in his budget. He takes into account the repeal of Obamacare which will not happen. And he doesn’t list a single tax loophole that he would close.
“This is a bad budget that Iowans and Americans rejected last November and Governor Branstad should be ashamed for supporting something that would hurt seniors, the middle class and our economy.”
Representative Dave Loebsack (D, IA-02) voted against Ryan’s previous budget and campaigned for re-election last year against Republican proposals on Medicare. His office released this statement today:
“The budget proposal released today unfortunately is more of the same from House Republicans. Instead of offering a commonsense blueprint to get Iowans back to work and the economy back on track, they once again pledge to balance the budget on the back of seniors, the middle class and the most vulnerable.
“We’ve got to grow the economy, create jobs and substantially reduce the unsustainable deficit over the long-term, but it must be done in a balanced way. It is time to hit the restart button. We can’t afford to end the promise of Medicare and give tax breaks to the wealthy. Seniors and working families are not the ones who got us into this fiscal mess and it is unfair that they get punished for Washington’s reckless behavior.
“I am hopeful Congress can sit down in a bipartisan manner and work out a balanced, commonsense budget that sets our country on a fiscally responsible path while growing the middle class.”
Representative Tom Latham (R, IA-03) voted for Ryan’s previous budget but was non-committal in this press release today:
LATHAM: “I CAN ONLY SUPPORT A BUDGET THAT OFFERS A SERIOUS PLAN TO REIN IN SPENDING & BALANCE THE BUDGET”
Washington, Mar 12 – Iowa Congressman Tom Latham released the following statement after the Tuesday morning release of U.S. House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s proposed budget: “The Path to Prosperity: A Responsible, Balanced Budget”.
“Responsible American families that work hard and sacrifice to live within their means are owed the same principled fiscal restraint by their elected leaders at every level of government. As I take the time to review Chairman Ryan’s budget proposal I will weigh my support or opposition to this and all other proposed budgets with the strict measurement of whether it is a serious plan to rein in Washington’s spending problem and balance the federal budget.
“A plan that produces a balanced budget, cuts wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars, fixes our broken tax code to create jobs and increase workers’ wages, protects and strengthens the important promises of retirement programs and national security, and repairs the safety net to expand opportunity to every American will receive my support.
“I remain committed to working with any member of Congress, regardless of political party, who shares my principles of fiscal restraint to find real solutions that move our country in the right direction rather than burying her people underneath more senseless politics, partisanship and pandering.”
I am seeking comment from Latham’s office to find out whether a budget that claims to be balanced in ten years meets his criteria. So far I haven’t heard back, which is not surprising, because Latham’s current press secretary has yet to return a single phone call or e-mail from me. (Oooh, scary liberal blogger!)
Latham’s only declared Democratic challenger in IA-03, Mike Sherzan, sent out this comment:
Statement from Mike Sherzan on Congressman Paul Ryan’s Latest Medicare Attack
Iowa Small Business owner Mike Sherzan commented on Paul Ryan’s latest budget today:
“Congressman Latham has shown his disregard for our seniors time and again — already voting twice in lockstep with Congressman Ryan and the Washington leadership to end the Medicare guarantee as we know it — just to pay for new tax giveaways for the special interests,” said Sherzan. “We’ve got to get back on the road to a balanced budget, but we’ve got to do it the right way, not on the backs of seniors and the middle class — instead of recycling the same bad proposals, Congressman Latham should start trying to actually get things done.”
Representative Bruce Braley (D, IA-01) did not send out a press release on the Ryan proposal but criticized the plan during an appearance on Iowa Public Radio’s “River to River” program. Here’s my partial transcript, starting around the 11:30 mark of that recording.
Well, I don’t think Congressman Ryan mentioned at all that the reason why he was able to, in his plan, attempt to balance the budget in a much more rapid time frame, is because of the tax increases on the wealthiest Americans that we all agreed to at the end of the year [2012]. That was completely missing from the debate on how we get the deficit under control leading up to the last election. So I’m encouraged by the fact that the House Budget chairman apparently now recognizes that that important part of the puzzle is going to help us get this problem under control.
But the problem is that he serves on the Ways and Means Committee–that’s the principal tax-writing committee that deals with all of the entitlement programs you’ve just mentioned, Ben. And I would ask Congressman Ryan and everyone else who keeps talking about entitlement reform, why their Ways and Means Committee didn’t put forward a single bill and send it to the House floor that dealt with meaningful entitlement reform. The fact that they have failed to do that, and he serves on that committee, shows you that a lot of this is more about political posturing than getting to the heart of the problem.
The biggest problem we face with entitlement reform is, we have runaway health care spending in this country, and until we are serious about how we can provide incentives to people to avoid the need for the incredible amounts we spend on health care in this country, through behavioral economics, we’re just moving pieces around and never getting to the root cause of the problem.
I can tell you that I think the American people resoundingly rejected his proposal to privatize Medicare, and that’s also included in this plan, the way it was two years ago. So here we are back with the same old failed proposal.
I have not yet seen any statement from Representative Steve King (R, IA-04), who also voted for the previous Ryan budget.