U.S. Senate candidate George Allen of Virginia isn’t going to fully embrace a budget plan from congressional Republicans that would dramatically alter Medicare and which is widely seen as the reason Republicans lost what should have been an easy congressional election victory in New York Tuesday.
Virginia Democrats have been pressuring Allen to take a firm stand on the budget proposal created by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., in hopes of using his support for unpopular Medicare reforms against him in the 2012 fall elections.
But Allen isn’t biting. He’s embracing only select parts of the Ryan plan, including tax cuts, dramatic reductions in federal spending and Ryan’s proposal to convert Medicaid, the federal-state program for low-income residents, to a voucher program run by the states. Allen was mum on Ryan’s Medicare reforms, which would convert the popular program to a voucher system that would help seniors buy private health insurance.
“George Allen commends Congressman Ryan for offering a detailed and thoughtful plan that has started a crucial debate,” said Allen spokeswoman Katie Wright. “In fact Allen has been a longtime advocate for certain aspects contained in the Ryan plan.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Virginia is trying to force Allen to say whether he would vote for the plan at a time when Senate Democrats plan to bring the Ryan proposal up for a floor vote in hopes of forcing some Republicans to vote against their own plan.
The Republican plan to alter Medicare already tripped up one Republican presidential hopeful, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and is being blamed for Republicans losing what should have been a safe congressional seat in New York on Tuesday. In that special election in the Republican-leaning 26th Congressional District, GOP nominee Jane Corwin dropped in the polls after embracing Ryan’s budget plan and was defeated Tuesday by Democrat Kathy Hochul.
Still, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said he wants the party’s 2012 presidential hopefuls embrace Ryan’s plan.
“It’s not every day that we get to say Eric Cantor makes a reasonable point, but that’s exactly what he did….when he urged candidates [to] take a firm position on the budget put forward by Paul Ryan,” said Virginia Democratic Party spokesman Brian Coy. “We join Eric Cantor in urging George Allen to offer a clear yes or no on whether he would vote for the Ryan plan.”
