Ryan's New Budget Axes ObamaCare, $5T in Spending

Would balance over 10 years
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 12, 2013 9:00 AM CDT
Ryan's New Budget Axes ObamaCare, $5T in Spending
In this Jan. 1, 2013 file photo, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., leaves a Republican caucus on Capitol Hill in Washington.   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Paul Ryan is unveiling his latest budget proposal, and this time, he says, it'll balance in 10 years—half the time he claimed for his previous budget, NPR notes, because he's including new revenue from the fiscal cliff deal. As promised, the new plan calls for repealing ObamaCare, to be replaced with "patient-centered reforms," Ryan writes in the Wall Street Journal. Ryan would also boost oil drilling and reform Medicare, the tax code, and welfare, Politico reports.

"On the current path, we’ll spend $46 trillion over the next 10 years. Under our proposal, we’ll spend $41 trillion," Ryan writes. "Because the US economy will grow faster than spending, the budget will balance by 2023, and debt held by the public will drop to just over half the size of the economy." Among his proposals:

  • On taxes: Instead of the current "Rubik's cube," "our goal is to have just two brackets: 10% and 25%," Ryan writes.
  • On welfare: "After the welfare reforms of 1996, child poverty fell by double digits," he notes. The budget would let states "tailor programs like Medicaid and food stamps to their people's needs."
  • As for Medicare: "Starting in 2024," seniors will see "a range of insurance plans from which they can choose—including traditional Medicare." It will be "a premium support program," notes NPR.
  • Meanwhile, Patty Murray, Democrat head of the Senate Budget Committee, is proposing her own plan, which would raise tax revenues by almost $1 trillion as it cuts spending to the same extent, Politico reports. She'll meet with party members, including President Obama, today.
(More Paul Ryan stories.)

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