Governor Palin: Why I Support the Ryan Roadmap, Let's Not Settle for the Big-Government Status Quo, Which is What the President's Deficit Commission

The Governor has penned the following editorial in the Wall Street Journal:The publication of the findings of the president's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform was indeed, as the report was titled, "A Moment of Truth." The report shows we're much closer to the budgetary breaking point than previously assumed. The Medicare Trust Fund will be insolvent by 2017. As early as 2025, federal revenue will barely be enough to pay for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on our national debt. With spending structurally outpacing revenue, something clearly needs to be done to avert national bankruptcy.The commission itself calculates that, even if all of its recommendations are implemented, the federal budget will continue to balloon?to an estimated $5 trillion in 2020, from an already unprecedented $3.5 trillion today. The commission makes only a limited effort to cut spending below the current trend set by the Obama administration. Among the few areas of spending it does single out for cuts is defense?the one area where we shouldn't be cutting corners at a time of war. Worst of all, the commission's proposals institutionalize the current administration's new big spending commitments, including ObamaCare. Not only does it leave ObamaCare intact, but its proposals would lead to a public option being introduced by the backdoor, with the chairmen's report suggesting a second look at a government-run health-care program if costs continue to soar. It also implicitly endorses the use of "death panel"-like rationing by way of the new Independent Payments Advisory Board?making bureaucrats, not medical professionals, the ultimate arbiters of what types of treatment will (and especially will not) be reimbursed under Medicare. The commission's recommendations are a disappointment. That doesn't mean, though, that the commission's work was a wasted effort. For one thing, it has exposed the large and unsustainable deficits that the Obama administration has created through its reckless "spend now, tax later" policies. It also establishes a clear bipartisan consensus on the need to fundamentally reform our entitlement programs. We need a better plan to build on these conclusions with common-sense reforms to tackle our long-term funding crisis in a sustainable way. Keep in mind that she did not endorse all aspects of the Paul Ryan roadmap. She acknowledges in the editorial that his plan is not perfect and that the deficit commission produced some good ideas. Nevertheless, she's the first likely presidential candidate to endorse Ryan's imperfect but very ambitious plan. You can read Palin's entire editorial here.

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