Every spring in Washington, Republican and Democratic members submit their proposals for the following fiscal year’s budget to the House Budget Committee. The chart below contrasts “The Path to Prosperity” plan proposed by Republicans — championed by House Budget Committee chairman and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, and approved by the House of Representatives on March 29 — with the Democratic Party budget submitted by the budget committee’s ranking member Chris Van Hollen. Also included are proposals across the political spectrum from other interest groups that have created alternative budgets, hoping that some of their ideas may make it into legislation.

This comparative budget chart focuses on programs that affect the nation‘s safety net — access for low-income families and the unemployed to jobs, food, housing and health care. Some of the proposals include actual amounts and percentages, listed by budget categories, while others only address priorities, so the comparisons may at times be a little difficult. Nonetheless, we thought highlighting them side-by-side would be interesting and useful, and you can click on each of the plans to read them in their entirety if you wish to dig deeper. If you would like to compare them with our current budget, check out this nice snapshot from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Sources: Six budget proposals (linked above), Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Special thanks to Sister Marge Clark at NETWORK for her research assistance and advice.