Lawmakers tussle on Sunday news shows over budget options

The Hill: Coburn, Van Hollen Draw Battle Lines On Debt Ceiling
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a member of the Senate Gang of Six negotiations, and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, (D-Md.), newly named to the Biden budget talks by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), disagreed starkly on whether the debt ceiling increase needs to be tied to a budget deal. ... Coburn said he supports the budget proposed by House Budget Commiteee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) which turns Medicare into a type of voucher system, saying that consumer choice is needed to drive prices down. Van Hollen, rejected that entirely, noting the Congressional Budget Office has found that seniors will be paying at least $6,000 more per year in health insurance costs after 2022 if the Ryan plan goes into effect (Wasson, 4/17).

Roll Call: Coburn, Van Hollen Wrangle On Budget
Another member of the gang of six, Sen. Mark Warner, faulted Ryan's plan on Sunday for not seeking new revenue and for leaving defense spending untouched. "That means the only place that he can go to get his deficit reduction is this massive transfer of moral responsibility onto our seniors in terms of paying for health care," the Virginia Democrat said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "Now that's one approach. It's not an approach that I think the vast majority of Americans would want." Ryan defended his plan on the CBS program by noting that his overhaul of Medicare would not affect anyone age 55 or older and that it is based on the same principles supported by the president's fiscal commission. "We're basically taking a page out of the playbook of the fiscal commission: Broaden the tax base, lower the tax rates for economic growth," Ryan said. "Keep tax revenues where they are — don't lower tax revenues — but clean up the tax code so it works." (Trygstad, 4/17)

Wall Street Journal: Geithner Says GOP Prepared To Lift Debt Limit
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Republican leaders have assured the White House they are prepared to lift the debt ceiling in time to avoid disruptions to capital markets and a potential credit default. In interviews aired on the Sunday talk shows, Mr. Geithner said House Speaker John Boehner and other senior Republicans told President Barack Obama in discussions last week that they were aware of the risk of a credit default and were open to lifting the limit even in the absence of a comprehensive deal to slash the country's debt load (King and DiLeo, 4/17).

The Associated Press: Geithner Confident Congress Will Raise Debt Limit
But a top Republican quickly pushed back Sunday and said there was no guarantee the GOP would agree to increase the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling without further controls on federal spending. ... Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, said that while it was true nobody wants the country to default, it's essential to address future borrowing. ... "We want cuts in spending accompanying a raising of the debt ceiling. And that is what we have been telling the White House," Ryan said on CBS' "Face the Nation" (4/17).

Politico: House GOP Frosh: Link Debt Hike To Cuts
Any attempt to raise the federal debt limit in the coming weeks must be linked to a solid proposal to rein in federal spending in the long-term, four Republican House freshmen said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "We've got to have some guarantees going forward--caps," said Rep. Steve Southerland of Florida. ... And Rep. Renee Ellmers of North Carolina disputed a Congressional Budget Office report that found Medicare changes proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) would force seniors to spend an average of $6,000 more per year out of pocket for health care (Gerstein, 4/17).

The New York Times: 'Gang of Six' In The Senate Seeking A Plan On Debt
Days after President Obama called for forming a bipartisan group in Congress to begin negotiating a $4 trillion debt-reduction package, the parties have not even agreed to its membership. Yet six senators — three Democrats, three Republicans — say they are nearing consensus on just such a plan. Whether the so-called Gang of Six can actually deliver something when Congress returns from a recess in May could determine whether Democrats and Republicans can come together to resolve the nation's fiscal problems before the 2012 elections (Calmes, 4/16).