RESOURCE ROUND-UP: CAP Analysis of the Ryan Budget Proposal

Washington, D.C. — Today policy experts from the Center for American Progress released a series of columns and analyses outlining the ways in which the latest House Republican budget plan forces low-income and middle-class Americans to shoulder the entire burden of deficit reduction while simultaneously delivering massive tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and corporate special interests like Big Oil and Wall Street banks.

Analyses released today by CAP:

Third Time’s Not a Charm by Michael Linden and Anna Chu
For the third year in a row, Rep. Ryan has offered a budget plan that asks much of middle-class and low-income families but nothing at all from those at the top. Just like the last two House Republican budgets, this year’s blueprint again turns traditional Medicare into a voucher system, hands out tax breaks for the rich, slashes investments that drive our economy, and favors European-style austerity over growth.
Rep. Paul Ryan’s Fantasy Budget by Michael Linden
The newly released House Republican budget plan claims to balance the budget in 10 years, but that’s only true if you ignore the $7 trillion tax hole created by the proposal and the utterly unrealistic cuts to nondefense discretionary spending, which is already set to decline to historic lows. Without these gimmicks, Rep. Ryan’s plan not only fails to balance the budget by 2023 but would actually dramatically increase the deficit and debt.
Ryan Budget 101: The 10 Worst Things Bout the House Republican Budget by Sarah Ayers
For the third time, Rep. Paul Ryan has produced a budget proposal that asks the middle class to make significant sacrifices so that the rich can enjoy enormous tax cuts. Many elements of his plan for FY 2014 are identical to those he’s advocated in the past. Like previous plans, it would weaken the American middle class while expanding economic inequality. It would cut essential programs and services that benefit low- and middle-income families while promising massive tax breaks for the rich and Big Oil companies. It would eliminate the Medicare guarantee, make it harder for kids to go to college, and crush families’ dreams of homeownership. And if that’s not bad enough, the budget plan would hurt the economic recovery in the short term while also slashing investments crucial to America’s future economic competitiveness. In short, the Ryan budget is the last thing our economy needs.
The Ryan Budget Includes Devastating Health Care Cost Increases for Seniors–Again by Emily Oshima Lee
The fiscal year 2014 House Republican budget resolution—released today by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)—is strikingly similar to last year’s plan in its treatment of our nation’s Medicare program. The misguided budget proposes replacing traditional Medicare benefits for seniors with a voucher toward the premium of an insurance plan provided by a private insurer or Medicare starting in 2024.
Meet the New Oil Tax Breaks, Same as the Old Oil Tax Breaks by Daniel J. Weiss
Rep. Ryan’s plan protects Big Oil companies at the expense of struggling American families. But Big Oil doesn’t need billions of dollars in existing and new tax breaks. This analysis demonstrates that Rep. Ryan’s oil company giveaways are ghosts from the budget that he and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney ran and lost on in 2012.
The United States’ Long-Term Debt Problem Isn’t as Bad as You Thought by Michael Linden and Sasha Post
America’s long term fiscal landscape is not as grim as projected. This analysis reveals that much of the expected run up in America’s long-term debt is derived not from out-of-control entitlement spending but rather from the assumption that future Congresses will make our budget challenges much worse by enacting new tax cuts and new spending increases without paying for them. Take that assumption away, add in the deficit reduction we’ve already enacted, and factor in the recent slowdown in the growth of health care costs, and the debt projection falls by more than 100 percentage points of GDP.

Quotes from CAP experts:

Michael Linden, Director of Tax and Budget Policy at CAP:
“With the release of this year’s House Republican budget, Rep. Ryan reminds everyone how little he cares about the views of the American public. This plan is virtually identical to his previous offerings, complete with the enormous tax cuts for the rich, the end to traditional Medicare and Medicaid, and the painful austerity borne exclusively by the middle class and the poor. Voters had a chance to endorse this vision when Paul Ryan’s name was on all 160 million presidential election ballots, and they declined to do so. It will come as a shock only to Rep. Ryan when Americans once again reject this approach.”
Topher Spiro, Vice President of Health Policy at CAP:
“The plan put forward by Rep. Ryan once again threatens Medicare and shreds the safety net for the middle class and the most vulnerable people in our society. Instead of reducing health care costs, this plan just shifts costs to businesses, consumers, and states. Many seniors would be forced to pay sharply higher premiums to keep their current Medicare coverage and choice of doctors. A better approach would be to target the excessive waste in our health care system.”
Daniel J. Weiss, Senior Fellow and Director of Climate Strategy at CAP:
“The 2012 election should have permanently buried the Romney-Ryan Big Oil tax breaks, but Rep. Ryan just exhumed them. To understand why the Ryan budget attempts to reanimate these dead tax provisions is as simple as that old Washington saying ‘follow the money.”
Distinguished Faith Leaders Take a Stand Against the Ryan Budget
A diverse group of distinguished faith leaders have come together to condemn the budget’s immoral cuts to services aiding the nation’s poor and continued tax breaks for the wealthy and special interests. This collection of quotes on the Ryan budget from a range of clergy and religious leaders representing congregations, denominations, and faith-based organizations.