House Republican leadership is all in with Budget chairman Paul Ryan and has green-lighted the inclusion of entitlements in the budget he will produce later this spring. The move comes after a lengthy behind-the-scenes debate about the risks of going first on entitlements and against the advice of several Republican pollsters who were consulted on the decision.

House speaker John Boehner hinted at the coming decision in an appearance on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, saying, “You’ll see our budget where, I’ve got to believe, we’re going to deal with the entitlement problem.” Majority Leader Eric Cantor, at his pen-and-pad briefing yesterday, sought to sharpen the contrast with Obama. “We also will be presenting at the end of next month, towards the beginning of April, our own budget, a serious document that will reflect the type of path we feel we should be taking to address the fiscal situation, including addressing entitlement reforms, unlike the President did in his budget.” And last night, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy formally notified his Republican colleagues at a whip meeting that the leadership had decided to include entitlement reform in the budget.