In an April 5 Washington Post column, Dana Milbank wrote that the budget plan released by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) “isn't a serious budget proposal because it fails at the central mission of ending the deficit and taming the debt.” Milbank further wrote: “How could the House Republicans make such enormous cuts and yet not solve the debt crisis? Simple: Ryan's proposal isn't a budget. It's a manifesto for the anti-tax cause.”

From Milbank's column:

“This is not a budget,” Paul Ryan said as he introduced the Republicans' 10-year budget plan. “This is a cause.”

Truer words have never been spoken.

The document released by the chairman of the House Budget Committee isn't a serious budget proposal because it fails at the central mission of ending the deficit and taming the debt.

Without question, Ryan makes some severe cuts: Taking hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid, ending the Medicare entitlement, and slashing planned spending on transportation, energy, education, veterans benefits, agriculture payments, counterterrorism and more.

Yet for all these cuts, the Republicans' plan increases the federal debt by more than $8 trillion over the next 10 years, and it continues federal budget deficits until nearly 2040. Under the proposed balanced budget amendment to the Constitution that Ryan and his Republican colleagues claim to support, Ryan's budget wouldn't be in compliance for at least the next quarter century.

How could the House Republicans make such enormous cuts and yet not solve the debt crisis? Simple: Ryan's proposal isn't a budget. It's a manifesto for the anti-tax cause. The GOP plan reduces the government's revenues by $4 trillion over 10 years because of tax cuts, including a lower top rate for businesses and the wealthy.