Paul Ryan’s Dubious Medicare Ploy

04 May 2011 |permalink | email article

Opposition to the Republican Congressman’s long-term budget-cutting plan has increased in recent weeks. By a near two-to-one margin, voters don’t like his proposal for tackling spiraling Medicare costs. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 26% of likely U.S. voters continue to favor the budget proposal by Ryan that claims to cut federal spending by $4 trillion over the next decade – unchanged from a month ago. What’s interesting is that the Republican tilting survey now shows 34% oppose Ryan’s proposal, up from 27% in the previous survey. Earlier Rasmussen polling showed that voters overwhelmingly believe that any proposed changes in Medicare should require voter approval before they can be implemented. Based on the polling data, I think the odds of libertarian-titling Ryan being able to pull off this coup are slim to being dead on arrival.
California Notebook

As if he doesn’t have enough problems Jerry Brown learned from the Legislature’s lawyers in a recent memo that his plan to eliminate development agencies is unconstitutional because the state cannot reimburse itself with local property taxes.

Legislative Counsel focused on the $1.7 billion in redevelopment money Brown hopes will balance the remaining $15.4 billion state deficit. The governor wants to use that money instead for deficit reduction in the first year and greater payments to schools and general local government services in later years. Legislative Counsel said the state cannot force local governments to send that money to the state. Instead, it said the money must remain locally.

The League of California cities has vigorously opposed Brown’s redevelopment plan. The League’s executive director. Chris McKenzie, told the Sacramento Bee his group is “pleased’ with the opinion and anticipates another review on whether the governor’s plan violates Proposition 22, a local government measure approved by voters in 2010.

Overheard

“It gives (Obama) a firewall in Afghanistan”…to some extent it “pulls the rug out from under” the potential Republican presidential candidates who have criticized the president’s strategy. – Stephen Hess, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and veteran of several presidential administrations, suggesting that none of the GOP candidates are in a strong position on foreign policy issues.

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