A Sharp Contrast: Ryan's Budget Verses The President's Budget

Paul Ryan - - Barack Obama

While President Obama’s Budget ‘All But Ignored The Most Important Long-Term Fiscal Challenge,’ Chairman Ryan’s Plan ‘Includes Broad Changes To The Tax System And $6.2 Trillion In Federal Spending Cuts’

The House Republican Budget: The ‘Most Complete Attempt So Far By Republicans To Make Good On Their Promises … To Cut Government Spending And Deficits’“Government Spending Would Plummet By Nearly $6 Trillion Over The Coming Decade Under A Republican Plan Due To Be Unveiled On Tuesday, In A Sharp Contrast To President Barack Obama's Fiscal Plan.” (“Republican Budget Plan Envisions Sharp Cuts,” Reuters, 4/5/11)

“The Budget Has Been Prepared By Rep. Paul Ryan, A Wisconsin Republican And The New Chairman Of The House Budget Committee, And It Represents The Most Complete Attempt So Far By Republicans To Make Good On Their Promises During The 2010 Midterm Elections To Cut Government Spending And Deficits.” (“GOP Aim: Cut $4 Trillion,” The Wall Street Journal, 4/4/11)

“The Proposal Also Includes Broad Changes To The Tax System And $6.2 Trillion In Federal Spending Cuts From President Obama’s Budget Over The Next 10 Years.” (“GOP 2012: Overhauls On Entitlements And Taxes, $6.2 Trillion In Cuts Over Decade,” The Washington Post, 4/5/11)

“Republicans Say They Are Taking The Initiative On Medicaid And Medicare Because President Obama Has Done Nothing To Put The Programs On A Solid Fiscal Footing.” (“G.O.P. Blueprint Would Remake Health Policy,” The New York Times, 4/5/11)

“In His 2012 Budget, Mr. Obama Did Not Propose Significant Savings In Medicaid Or Medicare, Even Though He And Many Fiscal Experts Say The Programs Are Unsustainable In Their Current Form.” (“G.O.P. Blueprint Would Remake Health Policy,” The New York Times, 4/5/11)

NBC:“It’s Courage Because Ryan Is Seriously Addressing Entitlement Reform, Which Is Something That President Obama’s Budget Didn’t Touch At All.” (MSNBC’s “First Read,” 4/4/11)

ANDREW ROSS SORKIN, The New York Times: “Now There's A Leadership Position. He's Come Out With A Plan Which Is More Than The Democrats Can Say… Give The Man [Rep. Ryan] Credit For Putting Out A Plan When Nobody Else Would, Frankly.” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 4/5/11)

DAVID BROOKS, The New York Times: “The Country Lacked That Leadership Until Today. Today, Paul Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, is scheduled to release the most comprehensive and most courageous budget reform proposal any of us have seen in our lifetimes. Ryan is expected to leap into the vacuum left by the president’s passivity.” (David Brooks, Op-Ed, “Moment Of Truth,” The New York Times, 4/5/11)

The President’s Budget: ‘A Remarkably Tame Response To Washington’s Fiscal Problems’ ‘It All But Ignored …The Growing Cost Of Entitlements Such As Medicare And Medicaid’LOS ANGELES TIMES: “A Remarkably Tame Response To Washington’s Fiscal Problems… It All But Ignored The Most Important Long-Term Financial Challenge, Which Is The Growing Cost Of Entitlements Such As Medicare And Medicaid.” “President Obama's budget for fiscal year 2012 landed with a thud Monday, laying out short- and long-term tax and spending plans that disappointed lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. The proposal was a remarkably tame response to Washington's fiscal problems, not the bold statement about belt-tightening that the White House had suggested was coming. Yet the biggest shortcoming is that it all but ignored the most important long-term financial challenge, which is the growing cost of entitlements such as Medicare and Medicaid.” (Editorial, “Obama's Overly Tame Budget,” Los Angeles Times, 2/15/11)

THE WASHINGTON POST: “The President Punted. Having been given the chance, the cover and the push by the fiscal commission he created to take bold steps to raise revenue and curb entitlement spending, President Obama, in his fiscal 2012 budget proposal, chose instead to duck. To duck, and to mask some of the ducking with the sort of budgetary gimmicks he once derided.” (Editorial, “President Obama's Budget Kicks The Hard Choices Further Down The Road,” The Washington Post, 2/15/11)

USA TODAY: “He Whiffed.” “President Obama likes to talk about those ‘Sputnik moments’ when the nation rises to difficult challenges like the one posed by the Soviet space program in the 1950s. On Monday, he had a chance to turn his federal budget proposal into his own such moment. He whiffed. … It's becoming hard not to conclude that Obama doesn't much care about the debt threat or has decided to wait until after the 2012 elections. Either would be a shame, and economically risky.” (Editorial, “Our View: Obama's Budget Ducks Tough Choices,” USA Today, 2/15/11)

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