Paul Ryan's "Road for America's Future"

Bob Inglis: There's no time to waste (The Greenville News)

By Bob Inglis - May 6, 2010

This year, federal tax receipts will cover only Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and interest on the debt. We’ll borrow for everything else. We’ve got to cut the spending, grow the economy and pay down the debt.

We need a plan to do those things. Paul Ryan, our ranking Republican on the Budget Committee, has a plan. It’s called “A Roadmap for America’s Future,” and I’m glad to be one of the 12 co-sponsors.

The idea is to honor our commitments to current retirees and those nearing retirement, but to balance the budget and to make Social Security and Medicare solvent by making changes for younger workers. The Roadmap would also replace our hopelessly complicated tax code with a flat tax of 10 percent on income up to $100,000 with a 25 percent tax rate for income above $100,000.

When Republicans took control of the House in 1994, we set about balancing the budget, and the left accused us of starving school children and putting seniors on the streets. We took a stand and didn’t back down.

When I went back to Congress in 2005 after being out for six years, the Republican majority was unrecognizable to me. There was talk of building a permanent majority by earmarking, and committee assignments and chairmen’s gavels were being sold to the highest bidder. If you could raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the national party, you could have your choice of committee assignments. I didn’t fit in.

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Read more about the Paul Ryan "Road for America's Future" at the official website.

Ryan Roadmap