In reality, this plan would cost more than 700,000 Americans their job and end Medicare for seniors.

FACT CHECK:

• Cut, Cap and Balance Will Cost Americans 700,000 More Jobs. Cut, Cap and Balance only raises the debt limit after the House and Senate pass a Balance Budget Amendment, cuts $111 billion in FY 2012, and places firm caps on future spending. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “these cuts would equal 0.7 percent of the projected Gross Domestic Product in fiscal year 2012 and would thus cause the loss of roughly 700,000 jobs in the current weak economy, relative to what the number of jobs otherwise would be.” Similarly, Scripps Howard News Service described the proposal as “both simplistic and economically destructive.”  [House Republican Study Committee Website, accessed 7/15/11; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 7/16/11; Scripps Howard News Service Editorial, 7/5/11]

• Cut, Cap and Balance Will Force Deep Cuts to Social Security and Medicare.“The measure does not cut Social Security or Medicare in 2012.  And it does not subject them to automatic cuts if its global spending caps are missed.  It is inconceivable, however, that policymakers would meet the bill’s severe annual spending caps through automatic across-the board cuts year after year; if they did, key government functions would be crippled. Policymakers would have little alternative but to institute deep cuts in specific programs. […] Reaching and maintaining a balanced budget in the decade ahead while barring any tax increases would necessitate deep cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.”  [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 7/16/11]

• Balanced Budget Amendment Would End the Medicare Guarantee and Slash Services While Giving a Tax Break for the Wealthy. “The balanced budget constitutional amendment (H. J. Res. 1) recently approved by the Judiciary Committee is a masquerade designed to foster the policy choices of the Republican budget: to end the Medicare guarantee for seniors and slash vital services while providing tax breaks for the wealthy.  This balanced budget amendment would have dire consequences on the economy, on Medicare and other government guarantees to our citizens, and on Congress’s ability to respond to changing needs.” [Democratic House Committee on the Budget, 6/27/11]

• Balanced Budget Amendment Would Require More Extreme Cuts Than Ryan Budget Plan; Any Budget Passed Under Reagan Would Violate its Structures.“The constitutional balanced budget amendment that the House Judiciary Committee began considering June 2 and is expected to pass next week, is a highly ideological measure that would force Congress to enact the Republican Study Committee’s extreme budget plan or something similar to it. Even the House-passed budget plan of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan would not pass muster under the proposal; the more draconian Republican Study Committee (RSC) budget or a close equivalent would be required.” According to the Washington Post, “The 18 percent cap on spending is so severe that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s economic plan would violate its strictures.  So would any budget passed under President Ronald Reagan.” [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 6/6/11]