By Katie Schimmelpfennig

WASHINGTON (MNI) – House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan released
a budget proposal for the current fiscal year Tuesday that he said will
actually put the country in a position to pay off debt.

“Our budget is very, very different. First of all, it cuts $6.2
trillion in spending from the president’s budget over just the next 10
years,” Ryan said in a speech at American Enterprise Institute, a think
tank generally regarded as moderately conservative.

The plan “puts the nation on a path that will actually pay off our
debt and it lowers the debt as a percentage of the economy, now until we
pay it off,” he said.

In the first 10 years this budget would reduce the deficits by $4.4
trillion, he said.

In contrast, Ryan said, “The president’s recent budget proposal, it
would accelerate America decent into a debt crises. It doubles the debt
held by the public by the end of his first term and triples it by the
end of his budget.”

Congress has until Friday to either agree on a budget, or face
government shutdown when the current stop-gap funding measure expires.
The 2011 fiscal year began Oct. 1, but lawmakers have not been able to
agree on a budget so the government has run on six short-term funding
bills.

“The path to prosperity is the budget we’re offering today,” Ryan
said.

The four major parts of his reform include: a more efficient and
effective government, builds on state led welfare, has more retirement
security and reforms the tax code for job creation and economic growth,
he said.

The budget should not be a political weapon. Congress needs to work
together to make a budget to avoid an economic crisis, he said.

“This is the most predictable economic crisis we’ve ever had in
this country,” Ryan said. “For too long policy makers from both
political parties in Washington have traveled a path a least resistance,
easy promises and empty claims of progress, relentless spending and
constant borrowing, this path have left us on a brink of national
bankruptcy.”

Ryan has received mixed feedback.

The White House said in a statement that “Ryan’s plan fails” to
“reflect the American values of fairness and shared sacrifice.”

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible
Federal Budget, said in a statement, “This is a bold budget, and
Congressman Ryan should be congratulated for putting forward structural
budget reforms to address our unsustainable debt path.”

Peter G. Peterson, chair of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, said
in a statement, “Chairman Ryan deserves significant credit for looking
beyond the current fiscal year and leading an effort to put forward a
budget proposal that addresses many of the drivers of our long-term
debt.”

** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

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