Rep. Paul Ryan, chief negotiator in upcoming budget talks with the Senate for House Republicans, broke the bad news to his conference that they
won't be having any Obamacare fights this round. But, he told them,
he would push instead for long-term reforms to entitlement programs in exchange for changes to sequestration spending cuts that Democrats are expected to demand.
Good luck with that, Paul. Here's Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on
that subject:
Reid rebuked the Nevada Public Radio host when he was asked what Republicans would have to concede to get Medicare and Social Security cuts on the table.
“You keep talking about Medicare and Social Security. Get something else in your brain. Stop talking about that. That is not going to happen this time. There is not going to be a grand bargain,” Reid said. “What we need to do is have Murray and her counterpart in the House, Ryan, work together to come up with something to get out of this senseless sequestration and start the budgeting process so that we can do normal appropriation bills.”
There's one thing that could make Democrats talk about Social Security and Medicare, and it ain't getting rid of the sequestration. Particularly when the next round of sequestration cuts will primarily hit defense, something plenty of Republicans want to end. Which Reid is
extremely aware of. For this round of negotiating, at least, Medicare and Social Security are highly unlikely to be in play.