Ryan: U.S. on Path to 'Economic Ruin'

The Hill reports:

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Wednesday offered a forceful defense of his budget, saying his $5.8 trillion in proposed cuts were necessary to prevent national economic doom.

“We are on a path of economic ruin,” Ryan said at the outset of a markup on his budget resolution, which could hit the House floor next week.

The $5.8 trillion in spending cuts his budget would make over the next decade cannot be avoided, Ryan explained to Democratic critics who offered a vigorous attack of his proposal.

“Why are we doing that? Because we can’t keep spending money we don’t have,” said Ryan, who began the markup by once again rolling out a PowerPoint presentation that shows the national debt exploding over the course of the next half-century, mostly due to rising entitlement costs driven by retiring baby-boomers.

The markup is scheduled to run for 13 hours.

Ryan defended his proposed reforms to Medicare and Medicaid, which Democrats say would hurt the poor and elderly, again saying the programs needed to be changed so that they could survive. He also emphasized that the reforms are “gradual.”