Tierney Votes 'No' on 'Ryan Plan'

Congressman John Tierney voted against a proposed Republican 2013 budget -- known as the "Ryan Plan" since it was introduced by Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan -- citing what Tierney called tax breaks for America's wealthy and severe spending cuts for federal programs.

The plan passed in the Republican-controlled House Thursday.

The Ryan Plan calls for about $5 trillion in deficit reduction through cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and other costly domestic programs. The plan also calls for cutting upper tax rates and corporate tax rates down to 25 percent, and Ryan has said those tax breaks should be paid for by the closing of loopholes. The plan is widely considered to be a non-starter in the Senate.

“The American people want to preserve and strengthen Medicare, not dismantle it," Tierney said. "They are counting on action to help create jobs and grow our economy, instead of delivering an average tax cut of $150,000 to the wealthiest Americans while safeguarding tax breaks for Big Oil and special interests."

House Democrats this week offered their own deficit-reduction plan which would raise taxes on the wealthy. But that plan would not cut the deficit as quickly or as dramatically as the GOP proposal.

Tierney's likely November opponent, former Massachusetts Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei, has not endorsed or opposed the GOP budget proposal, but he has made deficit reduction a top theme of his campaign.

"It’s a good basis of discussion and should not be an option to do nothing, which is currently what's being done and why the country is in trouble," Tidei campaign spokesman Paul Moore said. "He hasn’t had an opportunity to see the legislation, so he’s not taken a position how he would vote."

Moore added that Tisei wants to address the nation's debt and would like to see various proposals on how to decrease it.