REP. RYAN ROLLS OUT GOP BUDGET PROPOSAL
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011 -- 12:20 PM
A congressman from Wisconsin took center stage today as Republicans rolled out their budget plan.House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Janesville) introduced the measure that would slash $5 trillion over the upcoming decade, relying mostly on spending cuts and a restructuring of taxpayer-financed health care for the elderly and the poor.
Even with the cuts, the plan wouldn?t balance the budget by the end of the decade, due largely to Republican promises to not increase taxes or change federal retirement benefits for people 55 and over.
Pres. Obama has already introduced his budget plan that would cut over $1-trillion.
The most controversial part of the plan is the conversion of the traditional Medicare health plan for the elderly into a system in which the government would provide payments for private health insurance plans. Current Medicare beneficiaries or workers age 55 and older would stay in the existing system. But for people now under the age of 55, the Medicare program would operate like a voucher system. Critics say the plan will not keep up with inflation.
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