Eric Cantor’s spokesman Brad Dayspring tells TPM that Republicans are still behind the Ryan Plan to phase-out Medicare and replace it with private insurance. The issue, he says, is simply that they realize it can’t get past this president.
That sounds like a logical enough point. But I don’t think it disguises the fact they’re jettisoning phase out as a real-world policy goal, at least before 2013. As noted earlier, House Ways & Means Chair Dave Camp says he’s not going to waste time pushing it through committee — not wasting the time or exposing Republican Reps to unnecessary political danger.
But remember, all but six Republican members of the House voted for the Budget Resolution that includes the Ryan Medicare Phase-Out Plan. They’re on the record. They supported it. You can go on the record supporting it and take the votes or you can pass on that. I don’t see any getting around the fact that the House Republicans just shifted gears from option one to option two.
