The first budget from Senator Murray calls for a balanced approach of $1 trillion in tax increases along with roughly an equal amount of spending cuts over the next decade. Under this proposal though it isn't clear when the budget will actually be balanced, but Murray anticipates having the support of the 11 other Democratic members of her committee which would give her the votes to second the bill and bring it to the Senate floor on a party-line basis. You can read the full story here: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/patty-murray-budget-1-trillion-in-new-revenue-88736.html?hp=t3_3
The second budget from Congressman Ryan also calls for a balanced approach but by capping annual spending and slashing programs like Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, and Food Stamps while maintaining the tax rate increases brought by the "fiscal cliff" deal at the beginning of the year. Ryan's proposal balances the budget in 10 years but relies on the implausible repeal of Obamacare to do so which leaves it DOA in the Democratic-led Senate. Under the Ryan proposal, $2.7 trillion would be cut/saved from Obamacare, Medicaid, and Medicare combined. Ryan also calls for reform of the tax code, bringing the top corporate tax rate down to 25%. The full story can be seen here: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/ryan-unveils-budget-plan-88727.html
Here's my take on these budgets. Senator Murray's budget is just more of the same from Obama and the Democrats. All they seem to care about is increasing taxes. They just got a tax increase of nearly five percent on top earners at the beginning of the year as part of the "fiscal cliff" deal which will result in an additional $600 billion in revenue. Within just a few days of that deal, Nancy Pelosi was already hinting at going after even more revenue from top earners by eliminating tax loopholes, credits, etc. Now we're a few months down the road and their budget calls for that vary thing. Just last week we were told to expect federal revenue of $2.7 trillion this year; an all-time high. Murray proposes cuts, but as usual with Democrats nothing specific is outlined which means entitlements are more than likely off the table, and they will want to go after the Defense budget yet again.
As far as the Ryan budget goes, it isn't going anywhere. It will pass the House then die in the Senate just as every other budget has over the last four years. While I completely agree with Ryan's approach, Obamacare is unfortunately here to stay so it negates his entire proposal. Aside from that there are good points in his plan. We desperately need to reign in entitlements; they are burying us in debt. We are on a path of indefinite increases in entitlement spending and that is simply unsustainable. Democrats use entitlements as leverage to scare the public and portray the GOP as not caring about the poor which is a major reason Obama got re-elected. Ryan's proposal to lower the corporate tax rate to 25% absolutely needs to be done. We currently have the top corporate tax rate in the world. It's hard to keep things like manufacturing in America let alone entice new business to come here when they face higher taxes here than anywhere else. Canada and Ireland have both lowered their corporate rates in recent years and as a result have seen an influx of new business. Japan lowered their rate last year leaving us at the top, or bottom depending how you look at it, and you will likely see the same result as Canada and Ireland in the coming years...
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