More Details Surface About GOP Proposal To Reduce Deficit by $2.2T
Over the weekend, congressional sources revealed more information about a 10-year, $2.2 trillion deficit-reduction proposal offered by Republican members of the debt panel, CQ HealthBeat reports.
According to sources, the plan would increase Medicare premiums by $200 billion and cut $585 billion from health programs. The proposal would cut $300 billion from Medicare, $185 billion from Medicaid and $100 billion from other health-related programs, sources said.
On Friday, the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities criticized the proposal for its deep cuts to entitlement programs, saying the plan "appears to leave little room" for negotiation with Democrats. It said the plan calls for "even deeper spending cuts" than a proposal offered by Democrats earlier last week, "including severe Medicaid cuts that would impose significant harm" to children from low-income families and their parents, elderly residents and individuals with disabilities.
CBPP Analysis
CBPP also analyzed the Democratic debt plan, finding that it "actually stands well to the right" of previous bipartisan debt proposals, CQ HealthBeat reports (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 10/28).
Last Tuesday, Democrats on the panel offered a proposal that would reduce the deficit by almost $3 trillion over 10 years through a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases, including $500 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid (California Healthline, 10/26).
CBPP found that the plan includes fewer revenue increases -- $1.3 trillion -- than those from President Obama's fiscal commission or the Senate "Gang of Six" (Wasson, "On the Money," The Hill, 10/28).
CBPP also said the plan also has significantly deeper cuts to Medicare and Medicaid than the fiscal commission's proposal, as well as "a substantially higher ratio of spending cuts to revenue increases than any of the bipartisan plans."
According to CBPP, the willingness of Democrats to make concessions could put pressure on GOP panel members to consider more liberal debt strategies. However, the plan could make it harder for Democrats to persuade colleagues to endorse the debt strategy, CBPP said (CQ HealthBeat, 10/28). House Democrats already have criticized the Democrats' debt plan (California Healthline, 10/27).
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