Rep. Ryan: Republicans will lead with cuts in 2012 budget

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Sunday that Republicans, through Ryan’s own soon-to-be-released budget proposal, will lead the country’s discussion on reining in the national debt, an area where President Obama has failed.

“We are going to put out a plan that gets our debt on a downward trajectory,” he said.

As The Hill reported last week, Ryan will soon release a 2012 budget proposal that will aim to greatly reduce federal spending by tackling mandatory entitlement spending such as Medicare and Medicaid.

{mosads}On “Fox News Sunday,” the Wisconsin Republican said the Republicans’ plan would reform Medicaid, funding for which will be shifted into block grants for states. Medicare, under Ryan’s plan, will be reformed into a premium support system for those younger than 55 years old, a proposal similar to the Ryan-Rivlin plan.

Ryan’s budget plan — which as a general rule would not make substantive law but would lay out his party’s policy vision — doesn’t take on major Social Security changes.

During Ryan’s appearance, he confirmed the broad strokes of the GOP’s 2012 budget resolution, which is scheduled to be unveiled on Tuesday. 

He said his budget will trim more than the $4 trillion in spending cuts outlined as a goal by the president’s fiscal commission.

The GOP plan will call for statutory caps on discretionary spending and a cap on spending as percentage of GDP, but Ryan would not specify number.

While announcing his intentions, Ryan took shots at the president and congressional Democrats for putting politics ahead of tackling the country’s debt crisis. 

“I find it kind of ironic that the week we’re trying to engage the president, the Democrats and the country with an honest debate about our budget, with real solutions to fix this country’s problems and prevent a debt crisis the president’s launching his reelection campaign,” he said.

Reports have indicated Obama plans to file for his reelection bid in 2012 early next week.

“Where the president has failed to lead, we’re going to lead and we’re going to put out ideas to fix this problem,” Ryan said. 

Democrats could use the plan as a “political weapon,” Ryan said.

“We are giving them a political weapon to go out against us, but they will have to lie and demagogue to make that a political weapon,” he said. “They are going to demagogue us, and it’s that demagoguery that has always prevented political leaders in the past from actually trying to fix the problem. We can’t keep kicking this can down the road.” 

He added, “Shame on them if they do that.”