Ryan abandons part of the Ryan plan

In his interview with Fox’s Brit Hume Tuesday, Ryan said he has abandoned his plan’s provision to take about a half-trillion dollars out of current Medicare funding in order to shore up the Medicare trust fund for the future (as opposed to the provision of Obamacare that takes about $700 billion out of Medicare to pay for health coverage for currently uncovered people). Romney’s proposal is not to take the money out at all, so Ryan has abandoned his old position and now supports Romney’s.

“I joined the Romney ticket,” Ryan said. When Hume pressed, Ryan said, “[Obama] is taking those dollars from Medicare to spend on Obamacare. We prevent that from happening in the House budget, but let’s be clear here, Brit. I am on the Romney ticket. And what Mitt Romney is proposing is to repeal all of Obamacare.”…

Another GOP insider says that will work only if Ryan’s departures from his budget are relatively minor. “I don’t think there can be any wholesale backing away from what we supported,” says the insider. So far, the insider doesn’t see a major problem. But what he suggests indicates the problems Ryan might have with the Krauthammer approach. He has invested too much in his budget plan to back too far away from it now.