Norquist Issues New GOP Marching Orders
By Jonathan Weisman
Antitax activist Grover Norquist, the keeper of the no-new-taxes pledge that virtually all Republican politicians have signed, has a new set of marching orders for the GOP troops, especially for the party’s presidential hopefuls: Enact Rep. Paul Ryan‘s budget plan.
In an extensive interview with Wall Street Journal reporters and editors, the president of Americans for Tax Reform said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich ran into trouble with Republicans not so much because he called the Ryan plan “right-wing social engineering” but because he thought Republicans are looking for a “big thinker” with brave new plans. They aren’t, Mr. Norquist said.
“We know where we want to go,” Mr. Norquist said of Mr. Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity.” “We just need someone to sign the bills.”
That direction is not an easy one. The plan by Rep. Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House Budget Committee, would convert Medicare from a government-run health plan to a system of vouchers that would offset senior citizens’ purchase of private health insurance policies. It would repeal President Barack Obama‘s health care law while maintaining almost all its cuts to Medicare. It would convert Medicaid and other entitlement programs to block grants to the states. It would cut nondefense discretionary spending dramatically, and it would maintain the tax levels set by President George W. Bush while cutting individual and corporate tax rates still further.
The Ryan plan, which passed the House in April and was rejected by the Senate in May, actually would expand the budget deficit in the short run, with tax cuts and the repeal of the health care law. But Mr. Norquist said the budget deficit is not the metric by which he measures the effectiveness of fiscal policy. The size of government is the only real measurement, he said. The deficit merely is the difference between how much money the government takes in and how much it spends.
“The difference between them is not particularly important,” he said.
- Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
“We know where we want to go,” Mr. Norquist said of Mr. Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity.” “We just need someone to sign the bills.”
That direction is not an easy one. The plan by Rep. Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House Budget Committee, would convert Medicare from a government-run health plan to a system of vouchers that would offset senior citizens’ purchase of private health insurance policies. It would repeal President Barack Obama‘s health care law while maintaining almost all its cuts to Medicare. It would convert Medicaid and other entitlement programs to block grants to the states. It would cut nondefense discretionary spending dramatically, and it would maintain the tax levels set by President George W. Bush while cutting individual and corporate tax rates still further.
The Ryan plan, which passed the House in April and was rejected by the Senate in May, actually would expand the budget deficit in the short run, with tax cuts and the repeal of the health care law. But Mr. Norquist said the budget deficit is not the metric by which he measures the effectiveness of fiscal policy. The size of government is the only real measurement, he said. The deficit merely is the difference between how much money the government takes in and how much it spends.
“The difference between them is not particularly important,” he said.
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