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"President Obama's irresponsible budget is a recipe for a debt crisis and the decline of America," Ryan said. Obama's cuts in Medicare and Medicaid avoid cuts in benefits and instead make modest trims in payments to health care providers. In contrast, the Republican House last year approved Ryan's plan, which would essentially transform Medicare into a voucher system in which future seniors would get a fixed amount to buy medical insurance. The Obama budget proposes spending $3.8 trillion in the 2013 budget year, which begins Oct. 1. It would achieve $4 trillion in deficit cuts in part through restraining the growth of many government programs, adhering to the agreement Congress approved in August for spending caps to achieve $900 billion in deficit reduction over a decade. Obama's plan also proposes additional deficit reduction in order to avoid $1.2 trillion in across-the-board cuts scheduled to take effect next January. But the president relies on $1.5 trillion in tax increases, mainly by allowing the Bush-era tax cuts to expire on families making more than $250,000 per year, imposing additional taxes on those making more than $1 million per year and eliminating various corporate tax breaks. The tax increases all have been rejected by Republicans. With both parties holding entrenched positions, it is very likely that no solution will be found before the November elections, with both sides preferring to use the debate to score political points. If that occurs, Congress will probably be back in Washington after the November elections for a lame-duck session to resolve the battle over taxes and spending cuts. Lawmakers are facing end-of-the-year deadlines when the Bush-era tax cuts on all taxpayers expire and across-the-board spending cuts will go into effect if lawmakers can't agree on $1.2 trillion in further deficit reduction over the next decade.
[Associated
Press;
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