Lieberman Salutes the GOP Budget

WASHINGTON--Even before House Republicans had finished unveiling their dramatic budget proposal for 2012, Sen. Joseph Lieberman sent out a congratulatory statement on the GOP budget chairman's plan.

Lieberman said he wanted to thank Rep. Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who on Tuesday unveiled a proposal to slash nearly $6 trillion from federal spending over the next ten years, for having the "courage" to address the national debt and to offer a comprehensive solution.

Others in the delegation were not so enthusiastic about the Republicans' latest salvo in Washington's budget wars. Even as Congress remained locked in a bitter standoff over spending for fiscal year 2011, Ryan's budget blueprint for 2012 illustrates that the real fight will be over spending for next year and beyond.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, blasted Ryan's proposal as an "ideologically driven" document that will provide "tax breaks for millionaires" while eviscerating the middle class.

Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, said Ryan's budget resolution could be summed up this way: "Its let's shrink up government so small we can drown it in a bath tub."

Larson's tone turned deeply sarcastic, as he talked about how Republicans would make sure "the rich will be spared," because they "are just working their fingers down to the bone... And thank God, because we all know how that will trickle down."

Ryan outlined his budget bill before a media hoard on Tuesday, with cameras whirring and reporters scribbling when he held up his "Path to Prosperity" outline and started going through it.

Among the most controversial elements, the proposal calls for remaking both Medicaid and Medicare. On the former, Ryan says the joint state-federal health care program for the poor should be turned into a block grant. States would get a set amount of federal money to run the program and increased flexibility to determine eligibility and benefits.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and other Democrats said that would just shift costs to the states, rather than solve the serious questions about exploding Medicaid costs.

"Such a cost shift would severely undercut our ability to provide health care to our residents and adequately pay providers," Malloy and other governors wrote in a letter outlining their opposition to Ryan's plan.

On Medicare, Ryan calls for essentially privatizing the health insurance program for future beneficiaries. His proposal would keep the program as is for people who are already 55 and older. For those under that age, the program would be dramatically revamped. They would get a set amount of money from the federal government to pay for insurance in the private market, instead of the current system under which they receive health care services and the federal government reimburses doctors and other providers.

Connecticut Democrats said the Medicaid and Medicare proposals were non-starters.

"To me, that's not spending reform. That's just cost shifting," said Rep. Joseph Courtney, D-2nd District.

Similarly, Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, noted that right now, the federal government shoulders the risk of spiraling health care costs. Ryan's plan seeks to shift that risk to states, when it comes to Medicaid, and to elderly individuals, when it comes to Medicare.

"It's not particularly equitable to just say 'Now you, the states or the individual, are going to bear that'," he said. "There's a smarter way, which says let's get those costs under control and create a more efficient system."

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal went further, blasting Ryan's plan as an effort to "dismantle" those two safety net programs. That will never pass the Senate, he said.

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