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system into two brackets for individuals -- one at 10, the other at 25 percent. Ryan doesn't say the income levels at which the new rates would apply, nor does he specify which popular tax breaks -- like the child tax credit or the mortgage interest deduction -- might be spared. 

The GOP plan released by the House Budget Committee chairman would, if enacted into law, prescribe far less spending than President Obama's budget. It claims deficit cuts totaling $3.3 trillion -- spending cuts of $5.3 trillion tempered by $2 trillion in lower taxes -- below Obama's plan over the coming decade. 

The deficit in 2015, for example, would drop to about $300 billion from $1.2 trillion for the current budget year. 

But the plan has already hit resistance from the Democratic side, as it makes cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, Pell Grants and other Obama priorities. 

"It's deja vu all over again," Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said Tuesday. He said the plan would make Medicare unrecognizable compared with its original form. 

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