The Ryan Republican Congress: A Repeat Performance

After weeks of fumbling plans to unite House Republicans around a budget, GOP Budget Chairman Tom Price finally presented a plan to his colleagues this morning.  Budgets are a declaration of values – and this GOP budget makes quite the statement, cutting more than $6 trillion and putting key initiatives like Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps at risk.  From CQ:

House Budget Plan Would Rely on $6 Trillion in Spending Cuts

…To achieve balance in 10 years, the tax and spending framework will assume more than $6 trillion in spending cuts over a decade, achieved largely by making changes to mandatory spending programs including Medicare and Medicaid…

But even that isn't brutal enough for the radical extremists who run the House GOP.  POLITICO reports that hard-line, cantankerous conservatives are already registering their disapproval of Speaker Ryan's budget plan.

House leadership budget panned by conservatives

House GOP leaders made their latest attempt Thursday to fashion a budget to pass conservative muster, but it was quickly dismissed by hard-right lawmakers as not nearly good enough.

Passing a budget is a top priority for House GOP leaders this year, but they've been struggling for more than a month to get the rank and file fully behind a plan.

…Even with…sweeteners for conservatives, the House's most vocal conservatives said they didn't see much to support in the Price proposal.

For all his promises to chart a different course than his predecessor, Speaker Ryan is quickly showing the American people that the new boss is the same as the old boss in the Republican-led House.  Instead of working with House Democrats to deliver on the priorities of the American people, this Speaker has decided to retreat from the challenge of governing – just like the last Speaker did.  From the Associated Press:

Bold promises, but thin agenda so far for Ryan-led House

…the House floor has largely been turned over to the obscure and the arcane. Instead of wrapping up a typical day's work at suppertime, early afternoon getaways are the norm. And it could remain that way for much of the year…

The light schedule is due in part to a battle over spending that has stalled the budget, which GOP leaders had hoped to consider this week…

Well, the House is in fact passing some legislation. It's just that most of it is not very important.

…Republicans got more attention on Tuesday, however, when nine conservatives voted against naming a post office in North Carolina for iconic African-American poet Maya Angelou…

…for now, the floor schedule is remarkably thin….Meanwhile, the trouble in putting together a GOP budget resolution could mean that the floor agenda remains light.

Speaker Ryan is letting the most strident voices – the kinds of Congressmen who would object to commemorating Maya Angelou and who think cutting $6 trillion from Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps doesn't go far enough – set the agenda.  The Speaker's lofty rhetoric won't hide the fact that nothing has changed under his watch.