entitlement reform
Super Committee, Super Confusion
The "super committee" looks poised for failure — which is a much better outcome than some of the deals that were being floated in the last few weeks. As I wrote on NRO last week:
Recent news stories have suggested that the GOP members have offered to raise taxes by $300 billion over the coming decade as part of a deal that would also include some reductions in entitlement spending. But once again, the entitlement changes will do nothing to change the basic, cost-inflating structures of Medicare, Medicaid, or Obamacare. Indeed, if the GOP were to strike such a deal, it would make it that much harder to do what really needs to be done, which is to replace the entire health-entitlement status quo with reformed programs that rely on cost-conscious consumers in a functioning marketplace.
Moreover, the deal that is apparently under consideration would also rely on Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus to write the actual tax and entitlement legislation, along with his GOP counterpart in the House, Dave Camp. This is hardly a process that builds confidence, as Baucus was a primary architect of the massive government overreach that is Obamacare. Indeed, if the supercommittee’s contribution to deficit cutting is to cede power back to the regular committee process, one has to wonder, what was the point of having the committee at all?
posted by James C. Capretta | 11:14 am
Tags: super committee, taxation, entitlement reform
No Entitlement Reform in the President’s New Proposal
I have a new column up at e21 on the president’s latest budget proposal:
This plan wasn’t aimed at building bridges to the GOP or helping the Joint Committee come to an agreement. It was aimed at drawing sharp contrasts between the parties and positioning the president going into the 2012 presidential campaign. In that regard, it seems to have worked. The already very wide partisan divide now prevalent in Congress only widened further in the last week. In this highly charged environment, the odds that the Joint Committee will come to a grand tax-entitlement bargain are exceedingly low.
But perhaps that is just as well. Because it is also quite clear from the president’s latest health care proposals that serious entitlement reforms — the kind that would actually make a difference and would be worth striking a “grand bargain” to achieve — aren’t in the cards before the November 2012 election....
You can read the column in full here.
posted by James C. Capretta | 12:31 pm
Tags: entitlement reform, Joint Committee
File As: Health Care
Why the Obama Health Plan Is Not Entitlement Reform
On July 15, the Galen Institute held an event on Capitol Hill at which I had the privilege to discuss a paper I have written on why the Obama health plan is not entitlement reform. The event was moderated by Grace-Marie Turner, the president of the Galen Institute, and opening remarks were graciously provided by House Budget Committee Ranking Member Paul Ryan. Gene Steuerle, of the Urban Institute, and Doug Holtz-Eakin, the former Director of the Congressional Budget Office and now president of the American Action Forum, provided additional comments on the paper as well as other important insights on where we should go from here. The entire event is available for viewing here.
Update: NRO has also published a short op-ed that I wrote summarizing the main points of the paper. It is available here.
posted by James C. Capretta | 1:48 pm
Tags: Grace-Marie Turner, entitlement reform, Urban Institute, Paul Ryan
