I’m tempted to say that Mitt Romney has found his inner Paul Ryan. In today’s speech before Americans for Prosperity and in the accompanying documentation he lays out, it is fair to say he’s done something extraordinarily out of character — he’s gone bold. The spending and entitlement plan Romney presents embodies a great many of the ideas that Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, has laid out in his original “Roadmap for America’s Future” (on Social Security) and in his 2012 budget.
The basics, as provided by the Romney campaign, are as follows: Cap federal spending at 20 percent of gross domestic product by the end of his first term; cut “approximately $500 billion per year in 2016 assuming robust economic recovery with 4% annual growth, and reversal of irresponsible Obama-era defense cuts”; repeal Obamacare; and either privatize, send to the states or eliminate a raft of programs including:
In addition, and most eye-popping, are his proposals for entitlement reform. Along with block-granting Medicaid and other programs for the poor Romney, proposes:
In a briefing for reporters, Romney advisers told me that as Romney has spelled out before this will not entail cuts to defense. Romney intends to pursue a "restoration of defense spending." Conservative hawks should be relieved he has not embraced the isolationist tendencies on the right.
The big news here is on entitlements. No longer is Romney hiding behind generalities. He’s staked his flag in the ground on Social Security and tweaked the Ryan plan with an approach that defuses some of the political toxicity. By giving patients a premium support (a defined contribution), his plan allows them to stay within the Medicare plan. As his adviser explained, because the amount of the premium support is fixed government costs are capped. Medicare will compete with private plans. If a senior selects a cheaper plan, he can pocket the difference. The Romney team stressed that the premium support would be “generous” but the amount of this support and other details have yet to be worked out.
Conservatives, including Right Turn, have groused that Romney has played it safe and been lacking in specifics. He’s now stepped up to the plate and should get credit for it. Whether that will win over some conservative critics remains to be seen. (Those who have already decided to hate him no matter what will find excuses enough to disparage the effort.) But forget the politics for a moment: This is good policy.