Without Ryan Medicare ax, GOP budget still in red

Source: Politico

In a little-noticed but vital change last spring, the House Budget Committee chairman cut half a point from the annual growth rate he had allowed for Medicare spending. It gave him the extra margin needed to pay for tax cuts and still placate the right by getting to balance in 2040. But it meant breaking with Ryan’s fellow Medicare reformer, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and raised this question that echoes now in the presidential campaign:

Did Ryan cut corners with seniors to pay for tax cuts just as he accuses President Barack Obama of doing to finance health care reform?

Indeed, calculations by POLITICO — drawn from a Congressional Budget Office analysis commissioned by Ryan in March — show that without the half-point cut, the House Republican budget would still be in the red in 2040. And Ryan’s small adjustment compounds greatly over time: lowering spending for Medicare by hundreds of billions from 2030 to 2040 and well over $1 trillion from 2040 to 2050.

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“There’s no doubt that the additional cost to seniors is used to provide a tax break for people like Mitt Romney,” Van Hollen told POLITICO. “I think you’re going to hear the president make the argument even more … that asking seniors to pay a lot more on Medicare is being done to finance tax cuts for people like Mitt Romney.”


Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81721.html

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Interesting that Politico's recent analysis confirm, yet again, that Paul Ryan balanced his various budgets by gutting Medicare.