Bipartisan group of lawmakers offers budget plan modeled on Simpson-Bowles

The Associated Press: Bipartisan Group Offers Alternative To GOP Budget
A bipartisan budget plan to cut the deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years with a mix of new tax revenues and spending cuts across the federal budget is headed for a House vote, but it is likely to be rejected by Republicans against higher hikes and Democrats opposed to curbs on Medicare and Social Security benefits. The proposal by Reps. Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, and Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., is modeled after a much-praised plan by the co-chairmen of President Barack Obama's 2010 deficit-reduction commission (Taylor, 3/28).

The Wall Street Journal: Group Backs Simpson-Bowles Plan
A small bipartisan group of House lawmakers, bucking their Democratic and Republican leaders, is advancing a plan to reduce the federal budget deficit by more than $4 trillion over 10 years through a combination of spending cuts and tax increases. A vote on the measure could come as soon as Wednesday. It is widely expected to fail, but the degree of support for the plan could prove a bellwether of whether Congress decides to pursue a broad bipartisan budget deal this election year (Paletta, 3/27).

In the meantime, Democrats' own budget would cancel Medicare payment cuts, and a GOP plan championed by Rep. Paul Ryan could put Republicans in a bind.

Modern Healthcare: Dems' Budget Plan Backs Off Medicare Payment Cuts
The House Democrats' budget introduced this week would cancel the $1.2 trillion in deficit-reduction moves scheduled to begin in January, which include cuts of up to 2 percent in Medicare provider payments. The blueprint for future spending would replace those cuts with alternative "targeted spending cuts and revenue increases," according to a summary of the measure (Daly, 3/27).

Politico Pro: Ryan Plan Puts GOP In Long-Term Budget Bind
As House debate begins Wednesday, that's the bottom line of the new Republican budget blueprint, which breaks with the August debt accords and substitutes a vision of capping revenue at 19 percent of gross domestic product and scaling back government to fit into that suit. It's a bold, even bellicose election-year challenge. But the strict revenue limits could postpone for a generation the conservative promise of a balanced budget. At the same time, deep cuts to health care and education most likely will make it harder for GOP front-runner Mitt Romney to appeal to independents and women voters in the presidential campaign (Rogers, 3/27).

And the Senate could vote this week on repealing the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a major part of the health law.

Modern Healthcare: IPAB, Med Mal Could See Senate Vote This Week
A combined measure to establish federal malpractice caps and repeal a controversial Medicare cost control board could come up for a Senate vote as early as this week. The measure, which passed the House of Representatives last week, was formally placed on the Senate's legislative calendar, although no specific date for a vote has been set (Daly, 3/27).