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Following a political war over sequestration cuts, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, (R) Wisconsin, introduced a 2014 budget on Tuesday that cuts back on spending. Democrats in the senate introduced a plan that raises taxes. The goal is the same; restore America's finances. The route to get there seems to be a fork in the road.
"What we should be asking as we look at these various budget proposals is what will this do to grow the economy? What will this do to get us back to work?" Senator John Thune, (R) South Dakota, said, via satellite from Washington, D.C.
Ryan wants to to cut the budget by roughly $4.6 trillion dollars over the next 10 years, which includes trimming billions from Medicare, Medicaid and other health care.
"Find savings on the spending side of the equation gets spending back to a historic norm and promotes greater economic growth by keeping taxes low and restoring a more robust private economy, which is where good jobs are created," Thune said.
Big corporations would shoulder the load of tax hikes under the Democrats' proposed plan. On Wednesday, Senate Budget Chair Patty Murray, (D) Washington, introduced a budget which would cut $1.9 trillion dollars in the next decade, with $975 billion in cuts to planned spending, and nearly $1 trillion in new tax revenues.
"Hedge fund managers should pay the same rate of income taxes that working families do," Senator Tim Johnson, (D) South Dakota, said, via phone interview. "We need to end the federal subsidies to big oil companies that are reaping billions of dollars in profits."
Thune insists this will ultimately affect middle class, but Johnson said a mixture of cuts and new revenue is the only way forward.
"The House Republican proposal leads the country in the wrong direction, putting the burden of deficit reduction squarely on working families," Johnson said.
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