Former budget director Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) have both come up with strategies to end the government shutdown.
In an editorial published in The Wall Street Journal, Rep. Ryan advocated for gradual, structural reforms over sudden, arbitrary cuts. Among his suggested changes, he wrote federal lawmakers could require wealthy beneficiaries to pay higher Medicare premiums and reform Medigap plans to make them more efficient and less costly.
Sen. Portman's plan would preserve the sequestration cuts and includes wide-ranging cuts to mandatory spending, according to a report from The Hill. His proposal would also require the HHS Office of Inspector General to show Congress the agency has put measures in place to verify household income and other requirements before granting subsidies for health insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The federal government shut down last week after lawmakers failed to pass a spending resolution, with Republicans refusing to approve a funding bill that doesn't defund the healthcare reform law. Additionally, Congress must raise the country's $16.7 trillion debt ceiling by Oct. 17, according to The Hill.
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