Republican Spending Blueprint Contains ‘No Detail,’ Orszag Says

By Brian Faler

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- A Republican budget proposal offers few details on how it would prevent a projected gusher of government red ink in coming years, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag said.

Republicans have gone from “the party of ‘no’ to the party of ‘no detail,’” Orszag said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt” scheduled for broadcast today.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, released earlier this week a 19-page, campaign-style document that included no specific numbers on deficits or government spending. The plan focused on calling for lower taxes.

Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the top Republican on the House Budget Committee, distanced himself from Boehner’s document during an appearance on the Bloomberg program.

“There was some confusion as to what was released on Thursday; that was not our alternative budget,” Ryan said. He termed it “a broader Republican economic agenda” and said he would unveil the party’s tax-and-spending plan that includes specifics on March 31.

Ryan blasted the administration’s budget, saying, “We cannot mortgage our children’s future like the budget that we’re being asked to vote on does.”

The comments came as lawmakers prepare to debate President Barack Obama’s budget next week on the House and Senate floors.

Reconciliation Issue

Orszag, 40, declined to say whether the administration would favor using a procedural tactic in the Senate later this year that would prevent Republicans from blocking Obama’s proposed overhaul of the nation’s health-care system.

Democrats in Congress are debating whether to use a tactic known as “reconciliation” that would enable them to approve the health-care legislation with a simple majority in the Senate rather than the 60 votes usually needed to move controversial bills there. Democrats control the chamber with 58 votes.

Orszag rejected complaints by some Senate Democrats, including Robert Byrd of West Virginia, that using reconciliation on health care would be inappropriate because the tactic is supposed to be reserved for bills that aim to cut the budget deficit.

“Reconciliation has been used in the past for a variety of purposes” including former President George W. Bush’s 2001 tax cuts “even though that was clearly a huge deficit increaser,” he said.

Reining In Costs

“Health care is the key to our fiscal future, so a health reform that begins the process of bending the curve on health- care cost growth is absolutely essential to reducing our long- term deficit,” he said.

Democrats probably won’t decide whether to use the procedure until next month when they complete their budget plans for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Orszag said lawmakers could use reconciliation as a backup plan if Republicans prove unwilling to compromise on health care legislation. “If, by September, nothing has happened, reconciliation would be a fallback option,” he said.

Orszag also said the administration has included enough money in its budget to accommodate Obama’s plans to send 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.

He declined to say whether the administration would request more money from Congress to finance Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s plans to unlock the credit markets or to aid the auto industry.

Lower Deficit

Ryan, 39, declined to say how large the deficits would be under the Republican budget proposal he will offer, saying he is awaiting more data from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Still, he said it would be lower than the $1.4 trillion deficit Obama’s budget is projected to produce next year.

“We’re going in a different direction,” he said. The Republican plan is “going to borrow a lot less money, it’s going to spend a lot less money and it’s not going to raise taxes,” he said.

Asked about news reports that he was embarrassed by the outline presented by Boehner, Ryan said: “I was concerned that this impression would have been made in the media, which was people would think that this document that was put out last Thursday was our budget and it’s not.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Faler in Washington at bfaler@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 28, 2009 08:58 EDT

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