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Thursday, March 21, 2013

Oops! GOP House Passes Ryan Budget Again

      This is a yearly ritual but this year's version is the worst one yet. It both abolishes the benefits of ObamaCare-effectively taking health care away from over 30 million Americans-yet keeps the famous "$719 billion in Medicare cuts" that Ryan and his running mate ran against last year. The money will go towards paying down the debt.

     The coin is flipped an it's both "heads I win" and "tails you lose" in one. This is the deal for the average American. In addition he voucherizes Medicare and cuts Medicaid and most programs for the poor while devolving them to the states. It was a rather close vote:

      "The final vote was 221-207, with 10 Republicans joining unified House Democrats in opposition. One Republican and three Democrats did not vote. The development assures that the GOP’s controversial tax and spending policies will once again dominate campaign season, when midterm election campaigns begin in earnest later this year."

      http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/three-years-running-house-republicans-pass-radical-budget.php

       It certainly gives the Dems a election issue. It also seems likely that it will raise taxes on the middle class-beyond the hike with the proposed tax cut for the rich being so large dropping the top rate from 39.6% to 25%. This will certainly cause some large distributional issues, so in likelihood this is a tax hike for the middle class as well as the loss in healthcare. 

      This will also set up a grudge match with the Democratic Senate that passed it's Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government through August. It may set up a conference call but how do you bring such disparate proposals together for a compromise?

     "Thursday’s vote comes just as the Senate is kicking off its own budget debate, which will culminate in an unlimited amendment process called votearama."
     "The Senate Democratic budget calls for increasing taxes by $975 billion, via curbing tax expenditures, and cutting spending by $975 billion. The savings would be used both to turn off sequestration, to reduce the deficit, and to finance a modest, near-term jobs program."
     "If both budgets pass, House and Senate members could theoretically combine them into one. But the differences between the two documents are so vast that it will be extraordinarily difficult for the parties to reconcile them."

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