Schumer says Ryan budget ‘will never pass the Senate’

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y) called on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday to scrap his 2012 budget plan and accused Republicans of trying to squeeze off critical functions of the government.

"It [the Ryan proposal] may be a path to austerity but it is hardly a path to prosperity," Schumer said Tuesday on the Senate floor. 

Schumer, who is Democratic Policy Committee Chairman, argued that Democrats want to cut the budget as much as Republicans, but that the debate will continue over how those cuts ought to be made.

"We cannot be gun-shy about achieving fiscal discipline," Schumer said. "The number itself is not the issue. The contrast will not be whether we should reduce the deficit.  It will be about how we should go about doing it."

Ryan’s budget resolution cuts $5.8 trillion in spending over 10 years and transforms Medicare in order to balance the budget by 2040 without raising taxes.

Schumer said that Ryan's budget has no chance of clearing the Democrat-controlled Senate.

"The Democratic Senate will not stand for any proposals that seeks to balance the budget on the back of the middle class or seniors,” said Schumer. "It will never pass the Senate."