Where is Democrat plan to cut the deficit?
Image via WikipediaMembers of Congress headed home this weekend for a holiday recess without any Democratic plan for reducing trillions of dollars in federal budget deficits over the next decade, and Republicans won't let them forget it.The GOP plan does not effect people currently on Medicare or those about to go on it for another 10 years. I really don't understand why seniors should be so concerned and I say this as a 66 year old.
President Barack Obama's fiscal 2012 budget plan doesn't seriously attack the deficit; it would add $7.1 trillion to the national debt over 10 years. The budget by Democrats in the House of Representatives would add $7.5 trillion over 10 years. And Senate Democrats haven't produced any budget at all.
GOP lawmakers think they have a terrific issue in this to take to the voters, one that could even help cool the fire that's raging from the Democrats' charge that the Republican plan to end Medicare in its current form is an assault on seniors.
The GOP Medicare plan would change the program from direct government payments to health care providers for services to seniors; instead, it would offer subsidies for seniors to purchase private health insurance.
One veteran analyst, Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion in New York, said the two issues wouldn't have the same impact on the public, however.
"It's good to return fire, but it doesn't ease the concerns of seniors most aggrieved by the Republican proposal," he said.
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Still, Republicans say that before this year is over, Democrats will have to accept some cuts in Medicare, a major driver of projected deficits. In addition, GOP lawmakers say, Democrats will have to explain how they'll cut other programs in order to reduce deficits that are projected to reach $1.5 trillion this fiscal year and more than $7 trillion over the next 10 years.
"I think we have to ask at this point: What is the Senate Democratic plan to do something about the most predictable crisis in American history? We're waiting for it," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
"They cannot run from the issue," added Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Senate Budget Committee Republican.
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The Democrats have been running from the issue for years. Obamacare was supposed to be a fix, but it made matters worse and they are beyond reluctant to admit that kind of mistake. It has been nearly 800 days since Democrats have presented a budget for a vote. They have got to be hiding something they do not want us to see.
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