The Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, concerned that his party may get weak-kneed about making deep spending cuts and painful entitlement reforms next year, is calling on Republican congressional candidates to pledge their support of that aggressive agenda when they face voters this fall.
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told editors and reporters of the Washington Examiner on Thursday that he’s worried that even if Republicans regain the White House and Senate in November, they would still shy away from passing the budget plan he crafted to make unprecedented cuts to domestic spending and major changes to Medicare, including raising the eligibility age.
“That is my biggest fear,” Ryan said. “The worst thing that could happen is President Obama gets re-elected. The second-worst thing is we do win, and then we lose our nerve. We don’t fix the problem because we just want to stay in the majority. That’s the mind-set we had the last time we were in the majority.”
The budget proposal Ryan authored would reduce spending by $5 trillion below what Obama wants to spend over the next decade. It also would slash spending on Medicaid, food stamps and welfare, and cut the cost of Medicare by raising the age of eligibility and transforming the program from what is effectively public health insurance to a program that helps people buy private insurance.
The Ryan plan also would overhaul the tax code, lowering rates.
Ryan is coaching Republican candidates to talk on the campaign trail about his proposal, including Medicare reforms that are considered politically risky, particularly with senior voters.
“That’s my lesson, which is, say what you are going to do, get elected and then do it and show how it works,” Ryan said.
Ryan has reason to be nervous about the prospects for his plan passing next year. His budget proposal only narrowly passed the House in March and without unanimous Republican support. If additional Republican votes are lost in the fall elections, his plan’s chances of passing drop.
Some House Republicans are already expressing doubts about whether voters would support Ryan’s plan.
“I’m not talking about it,” said Rep. Steve LaTourette, a GOP moderate from a swing district in northeast Ohio who said he has no plans to promote the House Republican budget on the campaign trail as he seeks a 10th term.
“The Ryan plan, frankly, I can’t wholeheartedly put on the table,” LaTourette told The Examiner. He said he favors a debt reduction plan that includes both spending cuts and tax increases, mirroring a recommendation from Obama’s debt commission.
Ryan’s plan faces even stiffer opposition in a Democratic-led Senate, which rejected it and four other budget proposals this week. Among those opposing the Ryan budget were four moderate Republicans and one conservative, Rep. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who favors even steeper cuts than Ryan proposes.
Republicans would need to pick up four seats to take control of the Senate, and even if they succeed most analysts believe they will gain only a narrow majority.
Ryan told The Examiner that victories by Tea Party-backed Republicans in the recent Indiana and Nebraska Senate primaries suggest a Republican majority in the Senate would be inclined to back his plan.
