WASHINGTON, DC - As the House of Representatives prepares to vote on budget committee chairman Paul Ryan's (R-WI) long-term fiscal agenda, "The Path to Prosperity," an embarrassing detail about the document has emerged.  Due to a printing error, the term "small businesses" replaced the word "billionaires" in nearly every instance Mr. Ryan was actually referring to the super-rich.
    "You write enough bills and budget proposals, a couple of typos are bound to slip in," wrote Ryan in an official statement released by his congressional office.  "Though it's regrettable that these errors occurred, anyone reading my budget proposal should instantly realize that most mentions of small businesses are actually references to very, very large businesses and those individuals making millions and millions of dollars each year.  It wouldn't make sense in any other context."

    With the recurring error brought to light, the stated aims of the Ryan budget's tax plan change dramatically.  Under the existing wording, the Ryan budget calls for, "a simpler, less burdensome tax code for households and small businesses," and argues against raising "the top individual tax rates...on the most successful small businesses in America."  When the errors are corrected, the document correctly outlines the GOP's plan for, "a simpler, less burdensome tax code for households and billionaires," and argues against raising, "the top individual tax rates...on the most successful billionaires in America."
    Though Ryan, himself, has admitted the error, the actual document will not be corrected and the House will vote on it as-is.  This has led to major confusion among Republicans, most of whom still use the misleading small business language from the bill.  "We've been saying our plan is to help small businesses for so long, I think it'd be confusing to everyone if we started throwing new terms like 'billionaires' and 'multi-national corporations' around," said House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).  "So for the sake of consistency, we're just going to keep using the term small businesses, and people will know what we mean."