The Note reports that not only will Senate Democrats not support the Ryan plan non Medicare, they also will not accept a “mini”Ryan plan:
The Senate Democratic leadership came out today and reaffirmed that Medicare cuts should not be on the table during the debt ceiling discussions.
“Seniors can’t afford it,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said following today’s policy luncheons, “The vast majority of the American people, including most Republicans, do not support changing Medicare as we know it, that piece of legislation that came from the House.”
“That” piece of legislation would be the Paul Ryan plan, “The Path to Prosperity” which cuts the budget deficit by roughly $5 trillion over the next 10 years.
The Ryan plan completely overturns the new health care law and proposes a major reform to Medicaid and Medicare. Medicaid would switch to a block grant system, meaning the federal government would allocate money to states, giving them more flexibility in how they tailor their programs for the poor. Currently, the federal government matches every dollar that states spend on Medicaid and the formula varies from state to state
Today, Senator Schumer, D-NY., said it is not acceptable to Democrats to even accept a “mini” Ryan plan.
So the plan from now on is that, whenever Republicans propose either cuts to Medicare or any plan to privatize Medicare, we call it a “mini” Ryan plan. If we are lucky, Senate Democrats will then kill the plan. If only this plan was operational before George Bush proposed his Medicare plan.
Senate Democrats Will Not Accept A "Mini" Ryan Plan on Medicare. #p2 #p21 #topprog http://t.co/Xp3MdJU