Ezra Klein: Will Ryan's Budget Revive Simpson-Bowles?

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Will Ryan's Budget Revive Simpson-Bowles?
by Ezra Klein

I wouldn’t be surprised if, a year from now, it’s broadly agreed that the main thing Paul Ryan’s budget did was persuade Democrats — and perhaps some Republicans — to adopt something pretty close to the Fiscal Commission’s recommendations (which are currently being turned into legislation by a bipartisan group of senators).

There are real similarities between the two plans. Perhaps most importantly, the Ryan budget and the Fiscal Commission rely on similar mechanisms to reduce the deficit: They both cap stuff. But the Fiscal Commission’s caps are more flexible and fair than those in the Ryan budget; the Fiscal Commission makes revenues part of the solution, where the Ryan budget includes a deficit-busting tax cut; and the Fiscal Commission doesn’t try to sneak an ideological wish list into law under the cover of deficit reduction.

That Ryan’s shown political courage by proposing difficult and even dangerous policy ideas can’t be denied. But political courage in service of bad ideas is no virtue. His budget concentrates its sacrifices among the poor and vulnerable and largely exempts defense spending and high-income taxpayers. It tries to lock in a number of conservative policy ideas that increase the deficit, including the permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts, the privatization of Medicare and the repeal of health-care reform. It then uses caps on Medicare and Medicaid, as well as a freeze on domestic discretionary spending, to cut costs going forward.

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