Our spending crisis is so severe that we can’t stop at these two departments — there are more areas to cut. For example, we should also phase out the federal highway financing system and allow states to keep their own gas tax receipts. States would then be free to determine their own transportation needs and explore creative funding for roads like public-private partnerships.

As a family doctor for more than 30 years, I understand that we must look for savings in our health care system too. I recently co-sponsored legislation that would convert Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program into state-managed programs through a single federal block grant. This would save approximately $2 trillion over 10 years by capping federal funding at 2012 levels for the next 10 years and giving states an incentive to seek out and eliminate waste, fraud and abuse. The government agency closest to the consumer can most efficiently manage taxpayer dollars.

We’re not done. We must repeal Obamacare — including the associated taxes, which the Ryan budget leaves intact by assuming the enactment of tax reform later on. We’ll replace it with a market-based health care system devoid of government involvement and managed by patients and their doctors, a plan I have described in my Patient Option Act.

If we get government out of the way and put Medicare in patients’ hands by increasing contribution limits to health savings accounts, it will transform Medicare into a more flexible premium assistance program.

To cap all this off — literally — I have proposed a balanced-budget amendment that would force Congress to stick to the principle of not spending more than we take in. Passing a constitutional amendment is no easy task. While it’s a large undertaking, I’ll continue to fight for its passage. Just a few weeks ago, the House put enough pressure on the Senate to force it to produce a budget — something Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, hadn’t attempted in over four years. If we keep up the pressure, we’ll continue to see results.

Rather than nibbling around the edges as the Ryan proposal does, we must do all of this and much more now. There is a “Path to Prosperity,” but Mr. Ryan’s budget isn’t it. The only way to protect our nation’s financial future as well as our citizens’ liberty is to stop the outrageous spending in Washington and permanently reduce the size of our overreaching federal government.