Ryan Proposes Another Ridiculous Budget
Ryan budget cuts $5T over 10 years. W. Post: "Overall, Ryan would cut about $5.1 trillion from projected spending over the next decade, with nearly $3 trillion coming from repealing the health-care law and revamping Medicaid. Still, his proposals fall short of balancing the budget, forcing him to resort to a vague promise of new revenue from 'economic growth' to meet his goal of wiping out deficits by 2024 ... Ryan would keep the taxes and cuts to Medicare mandated by the [health-care] law. He calls for privatizing Medicare by changing it from an entitlement program into a voucher-style program. He also proposes cuts to other domestic agencies and reductions in the federal workforce and cuts in retirement benefits for federal workers."
Ryan predicts House passage: "[Ryan] said the resolution will likely draw enough votes to pass, despite 62 Republican defections to a deal he struck in December ... Last year, 10 Republicans voted 'No,' some because they did not consider the budget conservative enough, and others because Ryan included changes to Medicare."
"The worst" says Democrats. Roll Call: "[Rep. Chris] Van Hollen called the budget proposal a 'declaration of class warfare,' castigating the document for calling for a tax cut for top-income earners to 25 percent while cutting more than $125 billion for food stamps and $90 billion for student loans. 'Mitt Romney said he wasn’t focused on the 47 percent,' Van Hollen said, referring to a turning point in the 2012 presidential election. 'This budget sets out to prove that the Republicans are not focusing on the 47 percent.'"
"Path to more adversity" says CBPP's Robert Greenstein: "The budget documents that Chairman Ryan issued today laud his budget for promoting 'opportunity,' even as his budget slashes Pell Grants to help low- and moderate-income students afford college by more than $125 billion over ten years and cuts the part of the budget that funds education and job training (non-defense discretionary funding) far below the already low sequestration levels. The budget documents also claim to help the poor, even as the Ryan budget shreds key parts of the safety net; for example, it resurrects the draconian benefit cuts in SNAP (food stamps) that the House passed last fall and adds $125 billion of SNAP cuts on top of them."
"I don’t think I’ve ever seen more Orwellian budget language" says Jared Bernstein in Politico.
"Paul Ryan Just Made Tax Reform Harder" says TNR's Danny Vinik: "The problem is that it’s not feasible to accomplish all of these things without raising the deficit—something that Ryan, like most Republicans, has sworn he would not do ...
Obamacare Enrollment Period Ends Strong
10M newly insured and counting. McClatchy " the unexpected success of the marketplace enrollment period helps ensure that the president’s signature legislation will usher in one of the broadest expansions of national health coverage since the Medicaid and Medicare programs were launched in 1965 ... Through a combination of new marketplace insurance, coverage for adult children up to age 26 on their parents’ health plans and expanded eligibility for Medicaid, an estimated 9.5 million to 9.8 million uninsured Americans likely have gained health coverage under the law ... Those estimates will continue to grow, since Medicaid enrollment continues throughout the year and many states and the federal government are extending marketplace enrollment beyond the official signup deadline of March 31."
Millions more not in official count. NYT: "They are the people who have bought new health insurance since the start of this year but have chosen for one reason or another to bypass the state and federal exchanges ... some health care experts estimate that it may be in the millions ..."
"Obama declares victory" reports AP, quotes President: "I don't get. Why are folks working so hard for people not to have health insurance? Why are they so mad about the idea of folks having health insurance? Many of the tall tales that have been told about this law have been debunked. There are still no death panels. Armageddon has not arrived. Instead, this law is helping millions of Americans, and in the coming years it will help millions more."
GOP Resists Minimum Wage Hike
Obama to push minimum wage hike today. The Hill: "During an event at the University of Michigan, the president will reiterate his call on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $10.10 per hour ... Earlier this week, Senate Democrats indicated they could target a lower rate that would not open them up to charges that the hike would costs jobs."
Senate GOP threatens filibuster of minimum wage, pay equity bills. Roll Call: "Republicans are upset at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., for clamping down on amendments on the unemployment benefits extension. And they’re concerned Democrats are going to do the same on the minimum wage and pay equity bills to come. As a result, some GOP leaders said they could vote to block those bills from coming up for debate."
Wind Power Dealt Tax Setback
Wind power tax credit left out of Senate tax bill. The Hill: "The legislation, which will be marked up on Thursday, protects several provisions with powerful backers in corporate America, including a credit for research and development and a preference that allows companies to defer paying taxes on offshore financial services income. But [Sens. Ron] Wyden and [Orrin] Hatch left other tax provisions that had been part of previous 'extenders' bills on the cutting room floor — most notably the production tax credit (PTC) for wind and other renewable sources of electricity ... [Sen. Chuck] Grassley said he plans to file an amendment to the extenders bill that would renew the incentive for two years, and criticized his colleagues for leaving the PTC out of the draft."
"Reality hits Ron Wyden’s idealism" finds Politico: "The whole [Medicare doctor reimbursement] experience — especially Wyden’s public and private lobbying against the deal — ultimately resulted in ruffled feathers and a loss in the Oregon Democrat’s first major push since becoming Finance chairman in February. It underscores the limits of Wyden’s power and highlights how his famed idealism is running into the cold political reality of Capitol Hill."
