Obama adviser sees trust building in Biden talks

He said if the GOP would only budget from its no-new-taxes pledge, something “major” could be done on the deficit this year. He said he hopes the Biden talks can lead to a point where both sides abandon fixed positions, “hold hands and jump together.”

But Sperling showed little willingness to embrace Republican cuts to entitlements.

He got passionate when denouncing the House GOP budget’s cuts to Medicaid, which he said have not enough attention. He said that of anything the GOP has proposed, block grants for Medicaid and food stamps would be the least likely proposal Democrats could support.

“How could you possibly cut 35 percent [from Medicaid] and not hurt hundred of thousands, if not millions, of families with parents in a nursing home or children with serious disabilities,” he said.

{mosads}The problem he said is the Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) put himself in a box by taking taxes off the table for ideological reasons. 

“In their desire to leave revenue completely off the table … they have to do things like the cuts to Medicaid that I don’t think many of the people who voted for them would really support if they understood the implications of them,” he said.

He spoke just after an appearance by Ryan. He dismissed the Budget chairman’s demands for lower taxes for the wealthy to spur economic growth.

“Everything he said I heard 9 million times in 1993,” he said, noting that the Clinton budget plan raised taxes and did not prevent the largest peacetime economic expansion in history.

“We are open to discussing Medicare … the House plan very poorly designed,” he said. He said the administration can support payments reform in Medicare, and he reiterated its plan to strengthen the Independent Payments Advisory Board

In contrast, he said the Ryan budget increases out-of-pocket costs to seniors by $6,400 each, while only saving the government about $650 per person per year.

Sperling explained the Obama administration has not put out a Social Security reform proposal because it is stuck in “the middle” of liberal “groups” who don’t want changes and conservatives who want to save the program only though benefit cuts.

Once Republicans are willing to talk about a balanced approach of payroll tax increases and cuts, then reform is possible, he said.

“We have not taken it off the table,” he said.

Social Security will not be able to pay all its promised deficits after 2036 according to its chief actuary.