The Path to Prosperity

The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America's Promise was the Republican Party's budget proposal for the federal government of the United States in the fiscal year 2012. It was succeeded in March 2012 by "The Path to Prosperity: A Blueprint for American Renewal", the Republican budget proposal for 2013. Representative Paul Ryan, Chairman of the House Budget Committee, played a prominent public role in drafting and promoting both The Path to Prosperity proposals, and they are therefore often referred to as the Ryan budget, Ryan plan or Ryan proposal.

The plans stand in contrast to the 2012 and 2013 budget proposals, outlined by President Barack Obama and the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

The 2012 Republican proposal was formalized and passed by the House of Representatives on Friday, April 15, 2011 by a vote of 235 to 193, largely along party lines. No Democrats voted in favor of the bill, and four Republicans—Walter B. Jones Jr., David McKinley, Ron Paul and Denny Rehberg—voted against it. A month later, the Senate voted against the budget by a vote of 57–40.

The 2013 proposal would have provided workers under the age of 55 (beginning in 2023) a choice of private plans competing alongside the traditional fee-for-service option on a newly created Medicare Exchange. Medicare would provide a premium payment to either pay for or offset the premium of the plan chosen by the senior. This plan was similar to a plan developed with Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Democrat, but was different enough so that the Senator opposed it. To secure Medicaid benefits, The Path to Prosperity would have converted the federal share of Medicaid spending into a block grant indexed for inflation and population growth. The 2013 proposal also would have capped non-defense discretionary federal spending at $1.029 trillion and consolidated the six existing income tax brackets into two.

In April 2011, Ryan published three videos on The Path to Prosperity.

In March 2013, Ryan introduced H.Con.Res 25 to the House of Representatives, a new version of the budget updated for fiscal year 2014. The House voted 221–207 to pass H.Con.Res 25 on March 21, 2013. By July, the Ryan budget lost support when even House Republicans failed to support the THUD cuts.

In 2016, Ryan and Representative Kevin Brady, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, proposed a similar tax plan entitled A Better Way.