Panel to advance budget plan despite conservative rebellion

WASHINGTON -- The House Budget Committee on Wednesday pressed ahead with a 10-year spending plan that promises sweeping cuts to health-care programs and federal agencies even as a tea-party rebellion threatens to derail the measure.

The committee vote would send the GOP blueprint to the full House, but passage is looking unlikely. Conservatives have rejected added spending for various government departments, as set in last year's deal with President Barack Obama.

The situation is a setback for House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who engineered passage of four budget plans as the committee chairman from 2011 to 2014.

In the first budget cycle as speaker, and after years of criticizing Senate Democrats for ignoring their fiscal duties, Ryan is telling GOP colleagues who will face angry, anti-Washington voters in their re-election campaigns failure is an option.

"We want to work together to get this done, but it's going to be a decision left up to our members," Ryan said.

A big obstacle is the House Freedom Caucus, a group of about three dozen conservatives responsible for toppling Ryan's predecessor as speaker, former Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio. They have rejected a plan by Ryan and others leaders to accompany passage of the budget with a package of cuts to programs such as Medicaid and the health-care overhaul.

The committee's blueprint relies on eliminating health-care subsidies and other coverage provided by the health law. It makes cuts to Medicaid and reprises a plan devised by Ryan from years ago that would transform Medicare into a voucher-like program for future retirees.

A deteriorating fiscal picture required Rep. Tom Price, committee chairman, to propose deeper cuts than Republicans have before.

Price, R-Ga., said his budget, which projects a balanced federal ledger within 10 years, would "prioritize the responsibilities of the federal government -- such as national security -- and save and strengthen those programs that are critical to the health, retirement and economic security of millions of Americans."

Democrats blasted the measure for finding the bulk of its $6.5 billion in 10-year savings from programs that help the poor and working class and for promising a tax overhaul that would substantially lower the top rate.

The GOP plan would boost defense while calling for an almost 10 percent cut in domestic programs such as education, health research, and scientific research that are funded each year by Congress.

"This is a budget that divides Americans," said the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. "It continues to provide great benefits to folks who are already doing well in America. ... If you're at the very top of that economic ladder, if you're the top 1 percent, this is a great budget for you."

The annual budget debate gives lawmakers a chance to weigh in on the nation's financial picture. The government borrows about 16 cents of every dollar it spends and faces a potential debt crisis at some point if Washington's bickering factions don't address the problem.

But as in past years, GOP leaders have no plans to put in place the severe cuts recommended by the nonbinding blueprint.

Instead, the main goal of the budget is to set in motion the annual appropriations process that produces the 12 spending bills that set agency operating budgets. That's the $1.1 trillion "discretionary" portion of the $4 trillion-plus federal budget that is passed by Congress each year.

Although Republicans have a 246-188 House majority, the loss of about 20 of those conservatives would make it impossible to pass a budget. Every Democrat is sure to oppose the measure.

The Senate may skip the budget debate altogether and instead go straight to the annual spending bills under a little-noticed provision added to last year's bipartisan deal that permits the shortcut.