Author Topic: Ryan Budget Plans Ignored as Lawmakers Duel Over Debt Cap  (Read 796 times)

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Ryan Budget Plans Ignored as Lawmakers Duel Over Debt Cap
« on: October 16, 2013, 01:32:33 pm »
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-16/ryan-budget-plans-ignored-as-lawmakers-duel-over-debt-cap.html


Ryan Budget Plans Ignored as Lawmakers Duel Over Debt Cap
By Laura Litvan - Oct 15, 2013 11:00 PM CT

Representative Paul Ryan wanted big policy changes to lift the U.S. debt ceiling: a revamp of Social Security and Medicare, a framework for tax-code changes and approval of the $5.3 billion Keystone XL pipeline.

That’s all on hold now. Lawmakers are struggling to agree on legislation to end the 15-day partial government shutdown and continue paying the nation’s bills. Neither chamber is embracing Ryan’s ideas for fixing the crisis.

Instead, the Republican Party’s fiscal-policy leader and its 2012 vice presidential nominee will have to wait for budget negotiations in the coming weeks that are envisioned in an emerging Senate agreement to end the current impasse.

Ryan’s limited role in the immediate talks risks diminishing his credentials before 2016, when the Budget Committee chairman could be a White House contender, said Julian Zelizer, a professor of public affairs and history at Princeton University in New Jersey.

“There was a moment in recent days where it seemed like he would try to emerge in the spotlight, to help be the driver. But it didn’t happen,” Zelizer said. “He’s not a key figure.”

Leaders in both chambers are weighing plans to stave off a potential default and end the federal government shutdown. Each emerging proposal would suspend the U.S. debt limit until Feb. 7. The Senate's measure would fund the government through Jan. 15, while a rival plan, which stalled in the House last night, would keep the government running through Dec. 15.
Health Insurance

The House plan would prevent the government from contributing to the health insurance of members and staff of Congress, the president, the vice president and the Cabinet. The emerging Senate plan would give federal agencies flexibility to manage the across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration if they occur in 2014.

Ryan laid down a marker Oct. 8, calling for changes to Social Security and Medicare, including higher premiums for health system for the elderly; a requirement that federal workers provide more for their retirement; and agreement to move ahead with tax-code changes to broaden the taxpayer base and lower rates.

“We need to pay our bills today — and make sure we can pay our bills tomorrow,” Ryan said in an essay published by the Wall Street Journal. “Let’s negotiate an agreement to make modest reforms to entitlement programs and the tax code. This is our moment to get a down payment on the debt and boost the economy.”
Cruz Demands

House Republicans in September planned to include many of Ryan’s ideas in a debt-limit measure. Instead, they echoed demands championed by Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican and favorite of the anti-tax Tea Party movement, to strip funds from President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement, the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The effort to defund the health-care law, immediately denounced by Obama and Democrats, marked a shift after two years of brinkmanship in which Republicans sought deep domestic spending cuts in exchange for debt-ceiling increases and continued funding of the government.

Ryan, during a closed meeting of House Republicans yesterday morning, urged members “to move forward,” one of his caucus colleagues, Devin Nunes of California, said.

By pushing his ideas, Ryan, 43, achieved little and complicated the end game by setting out different Republican demands, said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
‘Confused Matters’

“He’s confused matters and it doesn’t really help at all,” Baker said.

Ryan, through a spokesman, declined to be interviewed on whether he missed a chance to help broker a resolution to the standoff.

“Chairman Ryan remains focused on getting a budget agreement,” his spokesman, Kevin Siefert, said. “He hopes all sides can work together to pay down the debt and grow the economy.”

Ryan in the past pushed for deep tax cuts and a plan to partially turn Medicare into a voucher system for future recipients. At the same time, he has been willing to part ways with his party’s leaders, supporting an eventual pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

After keeping a low public profile when the government shutdown began Oct. 1, Ryan spoke on Oct. 9 about his budget ideas to the Republican Study Committee, a caucus favoring spending cuts and other limits on government. The next day he participated in a White House meeting between Obama and congressional leaders.
Budget Conference

Entering a House Republican meeting yesterday morning, Ryan said the emerging proposals “need to do more” than require negotiation of a budget blueprint by Dec. 13, a date set in the Senate’s emerging plan.

Still, that proposal may give him a second chance to seize the policy agenda. His leadership of the House budget panel puts him in position to seek the type of spending cuts and tax-code changes Republicans have pushed for since taking control of the House in 2011.

“We’re hoping he’ll get into the broader policies in the budget negotiations later this year,” said Representative Joseph Pitts, a Pennsylvania Republican. “I have the highest regard for him.”

It also could be the ultimate test for Ryan, Zelizer said. While he’s long been one of the boldest thinkers in his party, Ryan may need to show results to reap political gains, Zelizer said.

“He’s been full of ideas over the years, but he hasn’t been successful as a legislator,” he said. “The conference could be another failure.”
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