Paul Ryan has advocated austerity budget measures. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)
For House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan and the Republican Party’s unofficial austerity caucus, the shutdown and debt-ceiling fights did not end in defeat. As part of the deal to end reopen the government and avert a “full-faith-and-credit” crisis, they got an agreement to establish a House and Senate conference committee that is charged with pulling together a bipartisan budget plan.
Ryan makes little secret of his agenda. The Wisconsin Republican is already talking about implementing the “entitlement reforms” he’s been pitching for years. So no one should rule out the prospect that the committee will entertain proposals for the roll-the-dice experiments with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid voucher schemes, hiking retirement ages, establishing means tests and reducing protections against inflation. At the same time, Ryan would reduce the corporate tax rate and eliminate the alternative minimum tax—completing the “Robin Hood-in-reverse” scenario that so appeals to austerity advocates.
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