TIME’s Jay Newton-Small talked to House Republican Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan in his Longworth office Tuesday about his 2012 budget, an ambitious package that includes drastic changes to Medicare and Medicaid, new tax reforms and deep spending cuts. A lightly edited transcript of the conversation follows:
TIME: How does your …
Since Barack Obama arrived in office, he has predicted a return to stable deficits in the out years, the sort of message that lawmakers, creditors and the American people like to here. But there is problem: Obama’s projections have consistently been too rosy. So each year, his bean counters must readjust the projections. They keep the …
On Tuesday, we got word that the ten-year cost of the new health reform law may be more than the $938 billion that was reported when the bill became law. In a letter released yesterday afternoon, the Congressional Budget Office said $115 billion more in discretionary spending could be spent to fully implement the law. This is not pocket …
It’s been a good couple weeks for Rep. Paul Ryan, the rising Republican star from Wisconsin, as his name is increasingly becoming synonymous with actual Republican policy. Obama called Ryan’s budget plan a “serious proposal,” while Ezra Klein calls it a “radical document.” (As Joe notes below, Ryan’s rising star has been targeted by …