Finally, a Serious Plan To Cut Deficit

Even as the federal government's fiscal dysfunction sank to new lows this week, the first serious congressional plan to address the nation's looming fiscal crisis emerged from Capitol Hill.

Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, laid out a plan for spending cuts and entitlement reform designed to spare the nation from far worse consequences in the years ahead. Those consequences, including sharply higher interest rates and rampant inflation, are all but inevitable if the rate by which the federal government is piling up debt is not significantly reduced.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats already have decried Ryan's proposed spending cuts as unreasonable. But his proposed budget would simply return domestic spending to 2008 levels and then freeze it for five years. The Ryan plan also would cut the size of the federal workforce through attrition, take on much-needed reform of agricultural subsidies, and rein in defense spending.

Ryan's boldest ideas center on changes to Medicare and Medicaid, popular but enormously expensive entitlement programs that are on a collision with fiscal reality.

Under Ryan's plan, Medicare, for those younger than 55, would be converted into a health plan similar to the one now offered to federal employees, including members of Congress. States would receive block grants to run their Medicaid programs, a move likely to save money in the long run because states would reap financial rewards if they find ways to slow the growth in costs.

Given that Republicans control only the House, most if not all of Ryan's plan is sure to die once it reaches the Senate. But the value in the budget chairman's proposal is that it finally puts on record a serious plan from a serious lawmaker for reducing the deficit.

Ryan's ideological opponents may scoff at his ideas, but it's now incumbent upon them to draft solid plans for dramatically cutting the deficit and overhauling entitlement programs.

The premise that the nation can't continue on its current spending spree isn't a conservative, moderate or liberal proposition. It's a basic financial principle — one that the U.S. government can't continue to violate without painful consequences for all Americans.

REPRINTED FROM THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR

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