Budget Cutting in Vogue (at last)

By K.E. Campbell

Recognizing that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) made their guy and their party appear juvenile last week, the spirits of those in mainstream media are brightening on news that the president will unveil his deficit-reduction plan this week. The president's plan, which will include tax hikes on the "rich," will be the subject of a speech by the president on Wednesday.

The president is taking a mulligan on his initial plan, the fiscal 2012 budget released in February, which Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) called "the most irresponsible budget in the history of the republic."

Commenting on the president's ostensible newfound interest in fiscal discipline, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) told Fox News Sunday, "We've had to bring this president kicking and screaming to the table to cut spending."

With the plan of Rep. Ryan and the House Budget Committee in hand, the administration knows the numbers they need to meet and beat. Expect the president's plan, however flimsy its assumptions may be, to exceed Ryan's on the key bottom-line deficit measures. Crank up the smoke machine, position the mirrors.

The analyses that will follow the president's speech will focus on the two plans above. Lost in the shuffle will be a 2012 budget released late last week by a caucus of 176 conservatives in the U.S. House of Representatives -- called the Republican Study Committee -- that reports to balance the budget in 10 years versus 20 years in Ryan's plan. A related press release is here, the budget is here, and related charts are here. Not surprisingly, the plan has garnered scant attention from the mainstream press.

The RSC's budget builds upon the House Budget Committee's "Path to Prosperity" and goes further. According to The Hill, the RSC plan spends $3.3 trillion less over ten years than Ryan's plan. The RSC is chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), a contributor to American Thinker.

I don't place much faith in ten year plans or five year ones, for that matter. Still, deficit-fighting momentum is picking up steam, perhaps in the nick of time. The RSC plan has elements that can be incorporated into the final 2012 budget. And with the debt-ceiling vote looming and serious deficit-reduction plans (that's deficit, not debt) on the table, Republicans have firmer ground on which to stand.