House OKs $4.1 trillion budget plan

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The House on Thursday passed a $4.1 trillion budget plan that promises deep cuts to social programs while paving the way for Republicans to rewrite the tax code later this year.

The 2018 House GOP budget reprises a controversial plan to turn Medicare into a voucher-like program for future retirees as well as the party’s efforts to repeal the health care law.

Republicans controlling Congress have no plans to actually implement those cuts while they pursue their tax overhaul.

That’s especially so in the Senate, where the Budget Committee on Thursday gave party-line approval to a companion plan.

Instead, the nonbinding budget’s chief purpose is to set the stage for a tax overhaul plan that is the party’s top political priority as well as a longtime policy dream of key leaders such as Speaker Paul Ryan.

The White House issued a statement saying the House plan is a key step toward “Making America Great Again.”

The House measure, passed by a near party-line vote of 219-206, calls for more than $5 trillion in spending cuts over the coming decade, promising to slash Medicaid by about $1 trillion over the next 10 years, cutting other health care costs and forcing huge cuts to domestic programs funded in future years by Congress.

“It’s a budget that will help grow our economy, and it’s a budget that will help rein in our debt,” said Ryan, R-Wis. “It reforms Medicaid. It strengthens Medicare.”