GOP budget plans differ
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are putting down a marker with their budget blueprint, one day after the House GOP unveiled a 10-year plan that boosts the military, makes deep cuts in social programs and targets President Barack Obama’s laws on health care and financial reforms.
Slated for release this afternoon, the GOP senators’ companion measure contains greater cost cuts to Medicare — $431 billion over the coming decade, which matches Obama’s savings if not his policies — but doesn’t call for the dramatic transformation of the program for future beneficiaries that House Republicans are pushing.
The House plan reprises deep cuts to social programs such as Medicaid, food stamps and student loans as well as a controversial plan that would transform Medicare into a voucher-like program for seniors joining in 2024 or later. They would receive a subsidy to purchase health insurance on the private market.
To meet their promise to balance the budget within a decade, Republicans propose cutting $5.5 trillion from a federal budget that’s on track to total $50 trillion over that period. More than $2 trillion would come from repealing health care coverage provided by Obama’s health care law.
The latest House budget plan opened to mixed reviews from GOP defense hawks and brickbats from Democrats.
“Let’s just be honest and say we’re adding this much money to the deficit,” said Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, referring to an ongoing effort by GOP leaders to fix the flawed Medicare payment formula without fully paying for it.
