国际英语新闻:Competing US Deficit Reduction Proposals Debated

The battle engulfing Washington over America's runaway national debt is exposing deep philosophical differences between Democrats and Republicans on the proper role of government, the sacrifices required to improve the nation's dire fiscal outlook, and on whom the burden of those sacrifices should fall. Illustrating the partisan divide are two legislative proposals, one Republican, the other Democratic, that seek to shave trillions of dollars in future U.S. indebtedness, but do so in very different ways.

Four trillion dollars over 10 years, that is the amount of deficit reduction sought in two competing budget blueprints.

Under House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s plan, passed by the Republican-controlled chamber in April, federal spending would be slashed by $6.2 trillion. The plan would also lower tax rates paid by corporations and top earners, bringing projected savings down to the $4 trillion range.

Monday, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad unveiled a Democratic alternative that seeks the same deficit reduction through an even mix of spending cuts and increased tax revenue.

First, a closer look at the Ryan budget. It proposes deep cuts in non-defense spending. For example, federal expenditures to protect the environment would be slashed from $40 billion this year to $26 billion in 2021, with no adjustment for inflation. Energy-related expenditures would go from $20 billion to $1 billion. The plan eliminates or consolidates hundreds of federal programs Chairman Ryan deems antiquated or duplicative.

The Ryan budget also seeks savings in the Medicare program that pays a portion of retirees’ health care bills by transforming it into a limited federal subsidy for private health insurance. It would also repeal President Barack Obama’s signature health care reform law.

Without the new tax cuts in the Republican plan, the deficit reduction would be far greater or, alternatively, the spending cuts needed to reach $4 trillion would be less severe. But Congressman Ryan makes no apologies for including them in his plan. “If you tax something less, you get more of it. We do not want to tax jobs more. We do not want to tax investment more. We do not want to tax small businesses and entrepreneurs more. We want them to be taxed less so that we get more of them: more jobs, more growth," he said.

Senator Conrad’s blueprint arrives at a similar bottom line by different means. The Democratic proposal, which has yet to be voted on, would end tax breaks for favored corporate sectors and boost income taxes on families earning more than $1 million a year. Taxes on large estates and investment profits would rise.