The White House is dismissing House Republicans’ decision to take time out from serious debt talk negotiations to vote on a conservative plan called “Cut, Cap and Balance,” ridiculing the measure as “Duck, Dodge And Dismantle.”
House Republicans on Tuesday plan to consider the measure, which would slash spending, impose a statutory cap to keep spending below 18 percent of GDP and ensure a follow-up vote on a Constitutional amendment requiring Congress to balance its budget every year without any tax increases.
The bill also would raise the debt ceiling – an attempt to insulate House Republicans from charges that they are wreaking havoc on the economy by refusing to support an increase on the nation’s borrowing limits that includes a tax increase of any kind.
White House spokesman Jay Carney called the bill “classic washington posturing kabuki theater,” and said it would impose more draconian cuts to the nation’s social safety net and Social Security and Medicare than the Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) budget proposal, which was roundly criticized for balancing the budget on the backs of seniors.
Budget experts estimated that Ryan’s budget would cost seniors an estimated $6,000 more a year in out-of-pocket costs. Jason Furman, deputy director of the National Economic Council said the new GOP balanced budget bill would require the government to cut spending above and beyond the Ryan plan by $1 trillion over the next 10 years, what he said would be “almost inconceivable” to do without taking a draconian hatchet to programs.
“You would need a 12 percent cut in all spending including Social Security and a 12 percent reduction in Medicare,” Furman said.
Later on a conference call with reporters, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said the Cut, Cap and Balanced bill “enshrines into the Constitution the Ryan plan on steroids.”
