House GOP plan would cut Medicare, Medicaid to balance budget

House Republicans released a proposal Tuesday that would balance the budget in nine years — but only by making large cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicare, that President Trump vowed not to touch.

The House Budget Committee is aiming to pass the blueprint this week, but that may be as far as it goes this midterm election year. It is not clear that GOP leaders will put the document on the House floor for a vote, and even if it were to pass the House, the budget would have little impact on actual spending levels.

Nonetheless the budget serves as an expression of Republicans’ priorities at a time of rapidly rising deficits and debt. Although the nation’s growing indebtedness has been exacerbated by the GOP’s own policy decisions — including the new tax law, which most analyses say will add at least $1 trillion to the debt — Republicans on the Budget Committee said they felt a responsibility to put the nation on a sounder fiscal trajectory.

Continue reading:  House GOP plan would cut Medicare, Medicaid to balance budget

Commentary by The Secular Jurist:  This is a time-honored Republican strategy.  First, they reduce government revenues by giving tax cuts to wealthy individuals and corporations.  Then, when budget deficits and the national debt balloon because of it, they say we must cut benefit programs for the poor and elderly to fix it.