Ryan Budget Forces Dems' Hands

By Thomas Lifson

Rep. Paul Ryan has released his deficit reduction plan, to screams of outrage from the usual suspects on the left. "The Path to Prosperity," as the document is called, is full of specifics on cutting six trillion dollars from Obama's planned spending over the next decade, stabilizing, and eventually starting to pay down the national debt. It does this by tackling the biggest budget busters: Medicare and Medicaid, and repealing ObamaCare.

Medicare would remain in place for those currently over 55, but for those younger, would choose among private plans, with the government providing assistance in paying for those with lower incomes. Medicaid would be converted to block grants for the states, unleashing the laboratory of democracy to provide innovation.

"You can't beat something with nothing," goes the old saw, so now the Democrats have to come up with their own plan. Mike Lillis of The Hill reports:

House Democrats are "likely" to propose a 2012 budget bill to counter the much-hyped GOP blueprint set for release Tuesday, according to a House Budget Committee aide.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), the senior Democrat on the budget panel, is still weighing his options, the staffer emphasized, but is leaning toward offering an alternative to the plan Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will unveil this week.

If the Democrats confine themselves to hysterical criticisms without offering a plan of their own, they confirm their growing image as irresponsible spendthrifts, as unable to address the looming debt crisis as they were to offer a 2011 budget when they controlled Congress. But the cowardly Dems are not going to do so right away. Lillis reports

Democratic leaders are waiting to gauge the public reaction to Ryan's plan, which would reduce projected federal spending by more than $4 trillion over the next decade, largely by cutting payments to Medicare and Medicaid.

The major tool the Democrats want to use is tax increases, which will only further depress the economy, and which will be unattractive to most Americans. So they are in a box/

Even though the media will do their usual partisan hit job on the cuts, the spectacle of Democrat unwillingness to debate Ryan and inability to offer a coherent plan of their own without massive tax increases will take a further toll on their credibility and popularity.