Ryan to present budget plan to Senate GOP

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will meet with Senate Republicans for lunch Tuesday to present his plan to balance the budget in 10 years.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, announced the news on Twitter.

“Honored to host @RepPaulRyan at tomorrow’s @Senate_RPC policy lunch. Look forward to hearing about his plan to balance the budget,” Barrasso wrote.

Senate Republicans are expected to vote on Ryan’s plan this week, when the upper chamber will also consider a Democratic plan to cut $1.85 trillion from the deficit.

Ryan’s budget would cut spending by $4.6 trillion — or $5.7 trillion compared to the Congressional Budget Office baseline — and create a $7 billion surplus in 2023.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other conservatives have criticized Ryan’s budget for not repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act entirely. Ryan’s budget would keep $716 billion in Medicare cuts mandated by the healthcare reform law. Ryan has said those savings would be used to extend the solvency of the program.

Centrist Democrats such as Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) could balk at steep cuts to domestic discretionary programs and the implementation of a premium support system to compete with Medicare, both called for by Ryan’s budget.

Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted in May of 2011 against a motion to consider a similar budget crafted by Ryan.

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