Republican lays out long-term budget plan

Down which road will Congress go?

There are now two maps unfurled on the table. In February, President Obama outlined a budget that would grow the national debt by $13 trillion over the next decade. On Tuesday, Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan outlined the Republican budget, one that would spend $6.2 trillion less than the president proposes in the coming decade and eliminate the national debt in 40 years.

Frankly, Rep. Ryan’s “The Path to Prosperity,” as he calls it, still manages to ring up a $6 trillion deficit. It cuts too little and takes too long to wipe out the national debt, but it is better than the economic train wreck the president offers.

In an online video explaining the budget plan, Rep. Ryan says, “We face a crushing burden of debt, which will take down our economy. It will lower our living standards. Actually, I asked the Congressional Budget Office to model the economy going forward. So they had these computer programs that simulate the U.S. economy. The computer program crashes in 2037, because it can’t conceive of any way in which the U.S. economy can continue because of this massive burden of debt.”

Unlike President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Republican plan addresses health and retirement entitlements and interest on the debt, which left unchecked threaten to consume every tax dollar the federal government can raise by 2025.

“The Path” reduces the spending of federal agencies to 20 percent of the gross domestic product, the same spending level as in 2008, while the president calls for freezing spending at the current level, after having grown it by double digits in the past two years.

According to Rep. Ryan, the plan ends government backing of mortgage holders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the permanent Wall Street bailout. It reduces subsidies for uncompetitive “green” energy projects and calls for a free market in energy development and exploration.

The Republican budget would address Social Security by adopting ideas outlined by the president’s own bipartisan fiscal commission, which the president has ignored.

Sen. Reid accused Republicans of declaring war on Medicare and Social Security. “While we must cut wasteful spending and excess, Nevadans cannot afford this irresponsible proposal that tries to balance the budget on the backs of seniors while protecting government giveaways to big oil companies and corporations that ship American jobs overseas.”

One aspect of “The Path” already has the class warriors screaming about supposed sops to the wealthy. Rep. Ryan proposes cutting the top individual and corporate income tax rate to 25 percent from the current 35 percent to encourage economic growth. The rate cut would be offset by eliminating myriad deductions and loopholes that allow many large corporations, such as Obama supporter General Electric, to pay no taxes whatsoever. The plan also cuts $800 billion in tax increases by repealing ObamaCare.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Rep. Ryan said, “This is America’s moment to advance a plan for prosperity. Our budget offers the nation a model of government that is guided by the timeless principles of the American idea: free-market democracy, open competition, a robust private sector bound by rules of honesty and fairness, a secure safety net, and equal opportunity for all under a limited constitutional government of popular consent.”

The path, to either prosperity or oblivion, runs through the Democrat-controlled Senate. Let Sens. Reid and John Ensign know which path to take.