Budget

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is out Wednesday morning with a new video defending his plan to reform Medicare.

The video comes a day after Republican Jane Corwin went down in defeat against Democrat Kathy Hochul in the New York 26th District special election, largely due to the Ryan Medicare plan that was part of the budget the House passed last month.

“Washington has not been honest with you about Medicare,” Ryan said in a video shot in the House Budget Committee room.

“The urgent need to reform Medicare and the president’s misguided approach have left us with a serious question to ask: Who should be making healthcare decisions for you and your family? A government monopoly and a panel of bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.? Or you?‬” he asks.

He goes on to explain why he is advocating turning Medicare into a type of voucher system for those currently under the age of 55.

Ryan will appear at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation's 2011 Fiscal Summit later Wednesday.

The top Republican in the group said he is "optimistic" that progress is being made in the high-stakes negotiations.

President Obama hailed Chrysler's repayment of its 2009 bailout loans on Tuesday, taking credit for the automaker's revival.

Obama said it was because of his own action that Chrysler was able to rebound from its government-supervised bankruptcy that resulted in its acquisition by Italian automaker Fiat. It was part of a broader effort by Democrats to build political support for the president based on the 2009 bailouts of Chrysler and General Motors.

"Supporting the American auto industry required making some tough decisions, but I was not willing to walk away from the workers at Chrysler and the communities that rely on this iconic American company," Obama said in a statement. "I said if Chrysler and all its stakeholders were willing to take the difficult steps necessary to become more competitive, America would stand by them, and we did."

Chrysler said it's repaying $6.7 billion in government loans from 2009 plus interest six years ahead of schedule.

A House subcommittee will consider on Wednesday a bipartisan crafted measure designed identify and decrease the federal government's real estate holdings, saving an estimated $15 billion over three years. 

Bill sponsor Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, will mark up the legislation that has been in the works for several months. 

Denham and the Obama administration have been working on a plan that would create a civilian version of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) that led to the closure more than 350 installations between 1989 and 2005.

Republicans once again are looking to cut the budget of a Wall Street regulator, proposing to shrink the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) budget by 15 percent.

Under an Agriculture spending bill released Monday by the House Appropriations Committee, the CFTC's fiscal 2012 budget would fall to $172 million. That's down from the $202.6 million it received under the 2011 continuing resolution (CR), and falls well short of the boost to $308 million the president suggested in his 2012 budget proposal.

Obama Budget Director Lew said there's no chance that the debt ceiling will not be raised by Congress in time.

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions is protesting Democrats' lack of a budget plan.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) in a speech Monday at the Bipartisan Policy Center laid out his principles for deficit reduction and called again on Congress to raise the nation’s debt ceiling by June 8.

He said he does not know if his recommendations, first floated in April, are being considered in talks being led by Vice President Joe Biden. He also said he wants the debt ceiling to be raised enough so that it does not need to be raised again until after the 2012 election.

“My own view is that this question ought not to be a political football,” he said.

Hoyer’s fiscal ideas largely resemble those of the president fiscal commission, but Hoyer did not explicitly called for enacting the December proposal.

Like the fiscal commission, Hoyer called for entitlement reform.

He said he believes Social Security should be made permanently solvent but that Social Security reform should be on a “parallel track” to other discussions on the deficit.

Lawmakers taking part in deficit talks have considered increasing the contribution federal employees make to their pensions.