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GOP Passes Budget Cut

WASHINGTON—House Republicans voted Friday to adopt a budget blueprint that would cut federal spending by $5.8 trillion over the next decade and fundamentally change the popular Medicare program for people under 55, a move that represents the party’s biggest political wager since winning a House majority in November.

The House vote strengthens Speaker Boehner’s hand on fiscal issues.

The measure was approved on a party-line vote of 235 to 193, with four Republicans joining every Democrat in opposing it.

The measure is likely to die in the Democratic-controlled Senate. But the unified GOP vote is sure to strengthen the hand of House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) as he negotiates with Democrats and Senate Republicans on other major fiscal issues, such as the terms on which his caucus would support a measure raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

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The Economics of the Ryan Budget

A mini-furor has arisen over the Heritage Foundation’s analysis of the Ryan budget — see, for instance, this Paul Krugman post. Unfortunately, they have aimed their criticisms at the wrong target, the Ryan budget. Time to clear up the confusion.

The facts are that House proposals for tax reform, Medicare reform, Medicaid reform, job-training reform, and so forth should be judged on their policy merits — and reasonable people will doubtless disagree. Similarly, the budget implications (the revenues, spending, deficits, and debt) are based entirely — I repeat: ENTIRELY — on the Congressional Budget Office’s economic assumptions and baseline projections. No smoke. No mirrors. Just the official, non-partisan numbers.

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