GOP budget plan to cut more than $4 trillion

By Ethan Miller, Getty Images

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says, "We've agreed on a number. Let's work on getting something done."

EnlargeCloseBy Ethan Miller, Getty Images

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says, "We've agreed on a number. Let's work on getting something done."

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., head of the House Budget Committee, previewed general details of the plan set to be officially unveiled Tuesday even as Republicans and Democrats continued negotiations over a spending deal for the next six months that's needed to avoid a government shutdown on Friday.

In a Fox News Sundayappearance, Ryan said the GOP 2012 budget blueprint would exceed the $4 trillion in spending cuts previously recommended by a presidential debt commission "by cutting spending, reforming entitlements and growing our economy."

Instead of using changeable spending caps as a percentage of the economy, the plan would use budget caps set by law on the portion of the federal budget that is negotiated by Congress and the president each year, Ryan said. Republican proposals for the precise levels are still being discussed, he said.

POLITICS: Larger debt debate looms on the HillThe plan would also lower federal tax rates and broaden the tax base, Ryan said. Decisions on specific tax changes, such as eliminating federal tax breaks for oil and gas companies, would come later, Ryan said.

Discussing entitlements, he said the plan would change Medicare, the federal health care plan for seniors, by creating a "premium support" system that allows seniors "to pick the (private health) plan of their choosing, and then Medicare subsidizes that plan."

However, the plan would allow Americans who are now 55 and older to keep the current Medicare programs.

"By addressing the drivers of the debt now, we do it in a gradual way," Ryan said. "We can guarantee the mission of health and retirement security, not just for current generations, but for future generations."

Democrats who appeared on the Sunday morning TV news broadcasts said they looked forward to congressional debate once specifics of the GOP proposal are released.

Meanwhile, Republicans and Democratic leaders used the Sunday broadcasts to stake out their positions on efforts to fund government operations through Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year. Washington funding is set to expire at midnight Friday. Much of the federal government would be forced to shut down unless an agreement is reached. Both sides have focused on cuts in the $33 billion range but haven't agreed on specifics.

On Saturday, President Obama phoned House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and urged an acceptable compromise that would avert what he called an economically harmful government shutdown.

"We've agreed on a number. Let's work on getting something done," Reid said on CBS News' Face the Nation.

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, ranking GOP member of the Senate budget committee, said on ABC's This Week he was unsure whether budget negotiators had made substantial progress over the weekend.

But, echoing other Republicans and Democratic leaders and senior committee members, Sessions said: "I doubt there will be a shutdown."

Contributing: The Associated Press

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