2013: Schweikert Voted For The FY 2014 Ryan Budget Which Would Have Cut Spending On Domestic Programs By $4.6 Trillion Over 10 Years. In March 2013, Schweikert voted for House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-WI) proposed budget resolution covering fiscal years 2014 to 2023. According to Congressional Quarterly, "H Con Res 25 calls for reducing projected spending by $4.6 trillion through cuts to domestic programs." The resolution passed the House by a vote of 221 to 207, but died in the Senate. [House Vote 88, 3/21/13; Congressional Quarterly, 8/29/13; Congressional Actions, H. Con. Res. 25]
Ryan's Budget Cut FY 2014 Discretionary Authority to $966 Billion, $92 Billion Less Than The Limit Set By The 2011 Debt Limit Deal Without The Automatic Budget Cuts. According to Congressional Quarterly, "The budget resolution would cap non-emergency discretionary spending for fiscal 2014 at $966 billion, $92 billion below the original, pre-sequester discretionary spending cap of $1.058 trillion for fiscal 2014, the initial cap set by the 2011 budget law (PL 112-25) before across-the-board budget cuts went into effect." [Congressional Quarterly, 8/29/13]
Ryan's Budget Set A Target Of 19.1 Percent of GDP For Spending And Revenue For 2030-2050. According to Congressional Quarterly, "The resolution would also recommend long-term budget levels for fiscal 2030, 2040 and 2050, calling for total federal revenues and budget outlays of 19.1 percent of gross domestic product in those years." [Congressional Quarterly, 8/29/13]
CBPP: This Year's Ryan's Budget Could Have Larger Tax Cuts For The Wealthy Than His FY 2013 Budget Due To Changes In Law From The American Taxpayer Relief Act. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "When House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan released his previous budget last year, I wrote that for most of the past half century, its extreme nature would have put it outside the bounds of mainstream discussion. It was, I wrote, 'Robin Hood in reverse --- on steroids,' because it would have produced the largest redistribution of income from bottom to top in modern U.S. history. Ryan's new budget is just as extreme. Its cuts in programs for low-income and vulnerable Americans appear as massive as in last year's budget, and its tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans could be larger than in last year's. [...] Since last year, however, the American Taxpayer Relief Act has returned the top individual tax rate to 39.6 percent, adding at least another $400 billion to the cost now of cutting the top individual tax rate to Ryan's goal of 25 percent." [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 3/12/13]
CBPP Analysis Showed That $3.3 Trillion, Or 66 Percent, Of Non-Defense Cuts In Ryan's Budget Would Likely Come From Programs Designed To Help Low Income Individuals And Families. According to the CBPP, "Cuts in low-income programs --- including reductions in both discretionary and entitlement programs --- appear likely to account for at least $3.3 trillion --- or about 66 percent --- of the $5 trillion in overall non-defense budget cuts, and probably significantly more than that." [CBPP, 3/15/13]
Ryan Budget Would Increase FY 2014 Budget Authority For Discretionary Defense Spending To Pre-Sequester Levels. According to Congressional Quarterly, "The resolution would limit defense discretionary spending to $552 billion in fiscal 2014, essentially wiping out the sequester's effect on the Pentagon and transferring those cuts to the domestic side of the ledger." [Congressional Quarterly, 8/29/13]
Ryan Budget Would Cut FY 2014 Budget Authority For Discretionary Non-Defense Spending To $414 Billion. According to Congressional Quarterly, "The budget resolution would cap non-emergency discretionary spending for fiscal 2014 at $966 billion. [...] The resolution would limit defense discretionary spending to $552 billion in fiscal 2014, essentially wiping out the sequester's effect on the Pentagon and transferring those cuts to the domestic side of the ledger." [Congressional Quarterly, 8/29/13]
CBPP: The Ryan Budget Contained Almost $6 Trillion In Revenue Increases, But Did "Not Identify A Single Deduction, Credit, Exclusion, Or Other Preference To Narrow Or Close." According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "Chairman Ryan offers no proposals to offset the nearly $6 trillion in costs. He only links to a tax reform framework from House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, which mentions "scaling back tax preferences that distort economic behavior" but provides no details on how to do so. The Ryan budget does not identify a single deduction, credit, exclusion, or other preference to narrow or close. Nor is his vow to raise $6 trillion by scaling back tax expenditures plausible, given that the most costly of them, such as the mortgage interest deduction and deduction for charitable giving, tend to be the most politically popular." [CBPP, 3/17/13]
U.S. Conference Of Catholic Bishops: Ryan Budget Failed To Meet "Moral Criteria" By Targeting Most Cuts At Programs For Poor. According to The Hill, "The bishops blasted the Ryan budget as failing to meet certain 'moral criteria' by disproportionately cutting programs like food stamps that 'serve poor and vulnerable people.'" [The Hill, 3/20/13]
Media Research Center President L. Brent Bozell Called Ryan's Budget "Literally, Democrat Lite" And Suggested He Should "Rip That Budget Up." According to The Hill, "To Ryan, Bozell said that while 'you're a good man and you mean well,' his proposed budget 'is, literally, Democrat Lite.' Bozell says Ryan, if he is looking toward a presidential run, should 'rip that budget up' and come back with a revised one. 'Watch what happens to both your national aspirations, and your legacy,' he said. [The Hill, 3/16/13]
Rep. Paul Broun: Ryan Budget Would "Trick The American People Into Thinking That Congress Is Fixing Washington's Spending Problem." According to an op-ed by Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) in The New York Times, "The latest budget proposal by Representative Paul D. Ryan, called 'The Path to Prosperity,' is anything but. It fails to seriously address runaway government spending, the most pressing problem facing our nation. I cannot vote for something that would trick the American people into thinking that Congress is fixing Washington's spending problem, when in actuality we'd just be allowing it to continue without end." [Broun Op-Ed, New York Times, 3/1/13]
2014: Schweikert Voted For The FY 2015 Ryan Budget, Which Would Have Cut Spending On Domestic Programs, Including Medicare And Medicaid, By $5.1 Trillion. In April 2014, Schweikert voted for Paul Ryan's fiscal year 2015 budget plan. According to Congressional Quarterly, "The measure calls for a balanced budget by FY 2024, almost entirely by reducing spending $5.1 trillion over the next 10 years --- including by repealing the 2010 health care law; reducing spending on Medicare, Medicaid and other health programs; and changing other mandatory programs, such as food stamps." The House adopted the budget resolution by a vote of 219 to 205, but the Senate did not. [House Vote 177, 4/10/14; Congressional Quarterly, 4/7/14; Congressional Actions, H. Con. Res. 96]
Plan Would Increase Defense Spending By $483 Billion, Offset By Cutting Non-Defense Spending By $791 Billion Below The Amount Permitted By The 2011 Debt Limit Agreement. According to Congressional Quarterly, "The measure's discretionary spending adheres to the defense and non-defense caps set for FY 2015 by December's Ryan-Murray budget agreement. But for future years, it generally assumes that discretionary defense spending will no longer be subject to sequestration while more than offsetting those increases by cuts to non-defense programs --- thereby raising defense spending by $483 billion over 10 years and cutting non-defense spending by $791 billion below sequestration levels." [Congressional Quarterly, 4/7/14]
CBPP: 69 Percent Of Spending Cuts Would Come From Programs For Low- And Moderate-Income Americans. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's new budget cuts $3.3 trillion over ten years (2015-2024) from programs that serve people of limited means. That's 69 percent of its $4.8 trillion in total non-defense budget cuts. [...] The Ryan budget proposes $4.8 trillion in non-defense budget cuts through 2024: $900 billion from non-defense discretionary (NDD) programs and $3.9 trillion from entitlements and other mandatory programs. These cuts are in addition to the discretionary and entitlement cuts imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act's (BCA) budget caps and sequestration. Cuts in low-income discretionary and entitlement programs likely account for at least $3.3 trillion --- or 69 percent --- of the $4.8 trillion in non-defense cuts --- and probably more than that." [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 4/8/14]
Catholic Social Justice Lobby NETWORK Exec. Director: This Year's Budget "Even Worse Than Ryan's Earlier Ones" And Embodies "Just Plain Wrong" Values. According to a press release from NETWORK, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, "There is so much fundamentally wrong with this latest proposal, which calls for deep, debilitating cuts for vital safety-net programs while supporting tax breaks for the wealthiest in our nation. Simply put, that is immoral. Responding to news of the proposal, Sister Simone Campbell, NETWORK's Executive Director, said, 'This budget proposal doubles down on policies that hurt our nation and is even worse than Ryan's earlier ones. Forcing the working poor to pay the price of addressing federal deficits while expecting nothing from those with the most wealth is wrong. Wrong according to our faith values, and wrong for 100% of our nation. Wrong for the common good, wrong for the general welfare. Just plain wrong. This document is nothing more than politics at its worst.'" [NETWORK press release, 4/2/14]