GOP Shadow Budget

Bush On Ryan's Roadmap: 'You Don't Get Steak -- Ever'

Rachel Slajda | August 12, 2010, 9:19AM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Former Florida governor and brother to Dubya Jeb Bush has a way with words.

He spoke to the New York Times for a story today on Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) "Roadmap" budget plan, which calls for, among other things, dismantling Social Security and Medicare.

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Republicans

Top Five Dumbest Ideas Republicans Had On The Road Back To Relevance

Brian Beutler | July 9, 2010, 1:43PM

RNC Chairman Michael Steele and one of his interns

It's time for the GOP to get down to brass tacks. Republicans are positively giddy at the prospect of retaking the House of Representatives, but, to make their dreams a reality, they have to be more than just the Party of No. They have to develop and disseminate an actual agenda. To do that they're teaming up with the party faithful and K Street lobbyists to produce a new platform. It's less providing leadership than being led, but at least it's something.

But if you feel like this is déjà vu all over again, that's because it is. In the years since they lost their majority, and in the months since Obama took office, Republicans have tried time and again to cast themselves as more than a (dis)loyal minority, introducing policy ideas, rebranding efforts, and other gimmicks. All of them have quickly fizzled and been swept into the dustbin, never to be mentioned again.

Whether this latest effort stands the test of time or not is an open question. But with that in mind, here's a highlight reel of failed Republican renaissances.

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2010 elections

GOP Voters To House Leadership: Privatize Social Security!

Christina Bellantoni | July 7, 2010, 12:57PM

Former President Bush at an event touting his social security reform proposal in 2005.

House Minority Leader John Boehner says he doesn't want to "prejudge" any official Republican plan to fix Social Security before voters have their chance to weigh in on a nifty new GOP Web site soliciting their ideas. Boehner won't tip the party's 2010 cards as to whether the unpopular George W. Bush-era plan to privatize Social Security might be on the table if he gets the Speaker's gavel after November.

But after spending some time scanning the "America Speaking Out" Republican site that Boehner said will inform the GOP game plan this fall, it's clear that there are plenty of voters who want the party to push privatization once more.

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GOP Shadow Budget

Boehner: 'No Idea' If GOP Will Resurrect Social Security Privatization In 2010

Christina Bellantoni | July 6, 2010, 9:30AM

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)

House Minority Leader John Boehner won't say if the Republican Party will again try to privatize Social Security, even as the GOP pushes fiscal responsibility as a major issue in their quest to win back control of Congress.

When the Washington Post's Dan Balz asked Boehner (R-OH) if the failed 2005 Social Security privatization plan would resurface this year, the Republican leader twice answered, "I have no idea."

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CBO

Experts: Ryan Roadmap Balloons Deficits While Taxing Middle Class, Slashing Entitlements

Brian Beutler | March 11, 2010, 10:00AM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Ever since Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the GOP's top budget guy, unveiled a proposal to slash and privatize entitlements in order to reduce long-term deficits, the media--and even some Democratic politicians--have praised the plan as a serious way to save money. The plan may be conservative, they say, but at least it takes a serious, honest stab at averting fiscal catastrophe. Ryan even had the Congressional Budget Office score the package, and they found that, by mid-century, it would eliminate federal deficits.

But it turns out that's not even close to true.

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2010 elections

GOPer Campaigns On 'Fulfilling Bush's Vision' On Social Security

Christina Bellantoni | March 8, 2010, 5:22PM

MS-01 House candidate Angela McGlowan (R)

While Washington Republicans are running from plans to privatize Social Security, one GOP House candidate in the south loves the idea and goes a step further - calling on her primary rival to unite behind George W. Bush.

We've been tracking where House Republicans stand on Rep. Paul Ryan's budget "roadmap" and noticed at Republican candidate Angela McGlowan has been talking about it in Mississippi's 1st Congressional district. Last week TPMDC wrote about that snaring the GOP's preferred candidate, state Sen. Alan Nunnelee on camera as he dodged a question about where he stands on the Ryan plan.

McGlowan, a former Fox News commentator, is taking it a step farther. She's challenging Nunnelee to join her in support of privatization. In a release Nunnelee said she was fully embracing Bush's 2005-era plan to "save Social Security."

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GOP Shadow Budget

Dem Campaign Snares Local Candidates In Ryan Budget Question

Christina Bellantoni | March 4, 2010, 10:53AM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Republicans jousting in a primary to challenge Rep. Travis Childers are now sparring over a GOP proposal to privatize Social Security and create a voucher system for Medicare.

Support is growing for the Rep. Paul Ryan's plan on Capitol Hill, and he picked up another supporter in Angela McGlowan, a former Fox News analyst and candidate in Mississippi's First Congressional district.

McGlowan backs private Social Security accounts, according to the Commercial Appeal. The newspaper reported last week "McGlowan has been criticized for her suggestion the public should be allowed to invest at least some of the social security money the federal government deducts from paychecks."

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GOP Shadow Budget

Ryan 'Roadmap' Earns Positive Congressional Testimony And New Co-Sponsors

Christina Bellantoni | March 3, 2010, 6:14PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) testified today before the House Budget Committee that a proposal to dramatically overhaul entitlement programs is "bold" and signed on as a co-sponsor of Rep. Paul Ryan's budget "roadmap" plan which cuts and then partially privatizes Social Security and creates a voucher system for Medicare.

Inglis said in testimony today that he's "comfortable" with the plan, which he said would help "get our fiscal house in order." The Ryan plan also has new co-sponsors: Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN). (See correction below.)

TPMDC has been tracking where House Republicans stand on the Ryan "roadmap." Yesterday we detailed the lawmakers we've gotten on the record, with nearly a dozen refusing to say where they stand despite repeated requests.

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GOP Shadow Budget

Love It, Lukewarm Or Playing Coy? TPMDC Tracks GOP On Ryan's Roadmap Budget

Christina Bellantoni | March 2, 2010, 12:47PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Republicans have spent weeks sidestepping whether they back a top GOPer's budget "roadmap" plan which includes major cuts to entitlement programs to end the deficit.

We've been trying to pin down whether House Republicans support Social Security cuts and the proposal for creating a voucher system for Medicare as outlined in Rep. Paul Ryan's budget "roadmap."

Will they go on the record supporting deeply unpopular cuts in an effort to claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility heading into the midterm elections this fall? Will they run away from the idea and put forward the broad, non-specific measure they presented as the GOP alternative budget in 2009?

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GOP Shadow Budget

You Can Run, But You Can't Hide: Hoyer Ties GOP To Medicare-Cutting Ryan Plan

Brian Beutler | March 1, 2010, 2:36PM

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

Leading House Republicans have been at pains to distance themselves from legislation sponsored by their top budget guy, Paul Ryan, that would partially privatize Social Security and turn Medicare in to a voucher program. But speaking at an event at the Brookings Institution this afternoon, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer insisted that if the GOP is interested in eliminating deficits, they're stuck with the Ryan plan.

"As much as his party's leadership tries to distance itself from his plan, Paul Ryan's program, or something very much like it, is the logical outcome of the other party's rhetoric of cutting taxes and deficits at the same time," Hoyer said.

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GOP Shadow Budget

Ryan Roadmap Targeted At Summit As GOP Factions Emerge On Social Security And Medicare Cuts

Christina Bellantoni | February 26, 2010, 3:31PM

President Barack Obama, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND)

Democrats put Rep. Paul Ryan's proposal to cut Social Security and create a voucher system for Medicare in the spotlight at yesterday's health care summit, but both sides proclaimed entitlement reform must be high on the national agenda.

Lawmakers wrestling with finishing up health care reform legislation yesterday dared each other to actually do something about it. The Republicans appointed Ryan, ranking member on the powerful Budget Committee, to speak for them yesterday on cost control. He did not tout his own plan - which GOP leaders have sidestepped - but lambasted the Democrats.

"We want to decentralize the system, give more power to small businesses, more power to individuals, and make insurers compete more. But if you federalize it and standardize it and mandate it, you do not achieve that," Ryan said.

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Health Care

Rep. Paul Ryan Among GOP Picks To Attend Summit

Christina Bellantoni | February 24, 2010, 1:47PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Minority Leader John Boehner has named Rep. Paul Ryan as one of his picks to attend the White House health care summit, something President Obama might use to put Republicans on the spot about Ryan's proposal to cut Social Security and create a voucher system for Medicare.

Boehner will bring Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA), Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Ryan (R-WI), the Daily Caller reported.

In a release, Boehner announced the attendees in addition to health care ranking members and GOP leadership. He also announced his plans for a GOP Health Care "Truth Squad."

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2010 elections

Rep. Steve King Prefers Bush Approach To Ryan Budget Plan (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | February 22, 2010, 11:58AM

Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

Rep. Steve King said Republicans ought to present more specific entitlement reforms in their budget plans and supports privatizing Social Security as outlined by President George W. Bush in 2005.

At CPAC last week, we tracked down Republicans to get their take on Rep. Paul Ryan's budget "roadmap" plan which cuts Social Security and creates a voucher system for Medicare. His office declined to comment to us earlier this month, but King said in an interview with TPMDC he has some different ideas for entitlement reform.

King (R-IA) said he wants to fully read the Ryan proposal before taking a yes or no, but said he likes the Bush Social Security plan that many other Republicans now shy away from since it was so politically untenable that year and factored into the Democratic takeover in 2006.

"People should be able to control their own retirement destiny," King said.

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GOP Shadow Budget

Rep. Issa Prefers Social Security Cuts To Bush '05 Approach (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | February 19, 2010, 3:34PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Rep. Darrell Issa told TPMDC today he would be happy to co-sponsor Rep. Paul Ryan's budget "roadmap" which privatizes Social Security and creates a voucher system for Medicare, saying it it a "much better" approach than President George W. Bush took in 2005.

We interviewed Issa (R-CA) at the Conservative Political Action Conference today, asking about the budget plan which former Majority Leader Dick Armey and others say is a smart plan to end the deficit.

"Paul Ryan did a very good job of teeing up the only possibilities. It's not like we want to do any of those, but the fact is there has to be enough income for the outflow and that's going to include potential changes in age, in means testing and in fact in how we collect revenue all of that has to be part of it," Issa said.

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2010 elections

Dick Armey To GOP: Be 'Courageous,' Consider Social Security And Medicare Cuts (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | February 19, 2010, 10:08AM

FreedomWorks CEO Dick Armey at CPAC 2010

Former Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey said in an interview that Republicans would be wise to talk straight about making cuts to Social Security and Medicare if they really want to cut the deficit.

TPMDC interviewed Armey at CPAC yesterday, and we asked him about Rep. Paul Ryan's budget roadmap we've been following that cuts privatizes Social Security and creates a voucher system for Medicare.

Armey (R-TX) was an architect of the Contract with America that helped Republicans win control of Congress in 1994. When we asked, he at first danced around the issue but then agreed "Yes," the Ryan plan is the smart way to go if the GOP is "courageous."

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John Boozman

Boozman On Ryan's Social Security Plan: 'We Are Considering All Proposals'

Rachel Slajda | February 16, 2010, 5:49PM

Rep. John Boozman (R-AR)

As we look into which Republicans support Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) budget plan -- especially the parts that would partially privatize Social Security and dismantle Medicare -- we now have Rep. John Boozman (R-AR) on the record.

"Social Security and Medicare face great challenges and we are considering all proposals to make these programs successful for future generations. I haven't cosponsored any legislation at this point but when I do it will be a plan that is supported by the people of Arkansas," he said in a statement to TPMDC.

Boozman, who is running for Sen. Blanche Lincoln's (D-AR) Senate seat, sent TPMDC a similarly noncommittal statement about Ryan's overall budget last week.

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Steve King

Steve King Declines To Comment On Ryan's Shadow Budget

Rachel Slajda | February 12, 2010, 4:58PM

Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

We've been asking Republican House members if they support Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) "roadmap" budget plan, specifically his proposal to partially privatize Social Security and dismantle Medicare.

TPMDC got a response from one member today, Rep. Steve King (R-IA): no comment.

King has been in the news recently for his vocal opposition of ACORN and for participating in Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) Capitol Hill tea parties.

We'll keep you updated as we continue to find out which members publicly support Ryan's plans.

Budget

Is GOP Budget Guru Paul Ryan Jonah Goldberg Acolyte?

Brian Beutler | February 11, 2010, 4:41PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

He may be the House GOP's budget guru, and the conservative author of a plan to reduce deficits by slashing Social Security and Medicare, but Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) isn't always on the side of the GOP base. Under President Bush, Ryan voted for the bank bailout, and then under President Obama voted to authorize the bailout of the auto industry.

What leading light guided him to those controversial votes? According to him, none other than conservative...luminary...Jonah Goldberg--author of the controversial best seller Liberal Fascism.

According to the Daily Beast, "Ryan said his vote for the bailout was influenced by Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism, a popular book among conservatives that argues that Nazism and other fascist movements were actually left wing in origin, and his belief that a second Depression would threaten capitalism--and rescue Obama's presidency."

"I'm a limited-government, free-enterprise guy, but TARP... represented a moment where we had no good options and we were about to fall into a deflationary spiral," he said. "I believe Obama would not only have won, but would have been able to sweep through a huge statist agenda very quickly because there would have been no support for the free-market system."

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2010 elections

House GOPers Running For Senate Put On Spot: Dems Ask If They Support Social Security Slashing 'Roadmap'

Christina Bellantoni | February 11, 2010, 2:57PM

Clockwise from top left: Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE), Rep. John Boozman (R-AR), Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL)

Democratic operatives are targeting four House Republicans running for Senate - attempting to put them on the spot on whether they support the privatization of Social Security and cuts to Medicare as outlined in Rep. Paul Ryan's budget roadmap.

TPMDC has learned the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is going after Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE), Rep. John Boozman (R-AR), Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) with releases to their local newspapers to ask where they stand on Republican plans to "kill Social Security."

The DSCC asks those members to take a stand on Ryan's plan to "privatize Social Security, cutting the tax rate on corporations, raising the retirement age to 70, and moving Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to private insurance plans," asking if they side with Main Street or Wall Street.

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GOP Shadow Budget

Rep. Kingston: Let's Take Social Security 'Off Budget'

Rachel Slajda | February 11, 2010, 1:28PM

Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA)

TPMDC has been busy tracking down which Congressmen support Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) budget proposal, which would privatize Social Security for the younger generations.

Add Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) to the "yes" column. As Think Progress points out, Kingston appeared on Fox Business this week and called for moving from Social Security to "personalized accounts" and replacing Medicare with vouchers.

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Andy Stern

Stern: Ryan Roadmap A Harbinger Of Return To Bush-Era Government

Brian Beutler | February 10, 2010, 3:53PM

SEIU President Andy Stern

SEIU President Andy Stern says that the so-called Roadmap for America's Future--an entitlement-slashing bill written by House Republican guru Paul Ryan (R-WI)--should be a warning sign to voters that the GOP hasn't moved on from the Bush-era.

"It's hard to imagine that this is a 21st century plan," Stern told me in an interview this afternoon. "It seems like we're going back to the future."

"Particularly when George Bush inherited a surplus and drove it into a massive deficit, I'm not sure we should trust the Republican party's rehashed ideas to not just bankrupt the country in the end," Stern said.

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Budget

Ryan: My Roadmap 'Very Different From An Actual Budget' (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | February 10, 2010, 2:39PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

On MSNBC this afternoon, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)--the ranking member on the House Budget Committee--repeated a claim he made to me and other reporters: that his so-called fiscal roadmap is not the same as the Republican budget. His plan, he says, is "very different from an actual budget." That's technically correct, but also terribly misleading.

Watch the video after the jump.

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Budget

Expert: The GOP Shadow Budget Might Not Even Eliminate Deficits

Brian Beutler | February 10, 2010, 2:11PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

House GOP's top budget guy Paul Ryan (R-WI) claims that his tax-cutting, Medicare and Social Security slashing fiscal roadmap would restore the federal budget to balance over a number of decades...and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has his back. But on close inspection, it turns out that CBO took much of its analytical lead from Ryan himself, dramatically skewing the numbers.

For their analysis Ryan provided CBO with a remarkable assumption: he asked CBO actuaries to assume that the major tax cuts he calls for won't create any change in federal revenue over the next two decades--at all.

Here's how they put it, in budget-ese: "As specified by your staff, for this analysis total federal tax revenues are assumed to equal those under [current fiscal policy]," the analysis reads.

There are just a couple major problems with that. According to Jim Horney, a tax expert at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, it doesn't account for the tremendous loss in revenues the government would experience if, as Ryan's plan calls for, the Bush tax cuts were extended and the Alternative Minimum Tax and estate tax were repealed.

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Democrats

Ryan: Attack On My Budget Roadmap Orchestrated By White House

Brian Beutler | February 10, 2010, 9:21AM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)--House Republicans' top budget guy, and the author of a long-term budget roadmap that would slash Medicare and Social Security--says that attacks against his plan were orchestrated by the highest levels of the Democratic party, all the way up to the President.

The attack, Ryan told former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, "came out of the Democratic National Committee, and that is the White House."

Ryan believes he's a target purely for reasons of misdirection.

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2010 elections

Ryan Roadmap Lays Out Sweeping Tax Changes Including Massive Cuts For The Rich

Christina Bellantoni | February 10, 2010, 8:55AM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

If some Republicans are squeamish about Rep. Paul Ryan's proposal to privatize Social Security, there's plenty of tax cuts for the rich included in the plan they might find more to their liking.

TPMDC has been scouring the "Roadmap for America's Future" budget blueprint that Ryan, ranking Republican on the Budget Committee, proposed a few weeks ago. Among the nuggets that have GOPers running a bit scared are his plans to dramatically slash Social Security and Medicare benefits to cut the deficit.

Under the plan, Ryan (R-WI) also would give taxpayers a choice of a "simpler" system with just two tax brackets and he would repeal the corporate income tax. In its place he creates a "consumption tax" of 8.5 percent that experts tell us would unfairly burden the lower and middle classes. That's a tax on all goods and services that shifts the tax burden from corporations to individual consumers.

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Republicans

No Regrets: Cosponsor Of GOP Budget Gives His Leaders A Pass--Despite Their Unwillingness To Support It

Brian Beutler | February 9, 2010, 2:56PM

Rep. Tom Price (R-GA)

One of the handful of cosponsors of a far-reaching roadmap that would involve privatizing both Medicare and Social Security says he has no regrets about supporting the GOP shadow budget. And yet despite the fact that Republican leadership has sought to distance the party from the plan, he says the onus should be on Democrats to hop aboard Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) proposal.

"Anybody that is serious about fixing the fiscal challenges has to address honestly the issue of entitlements," Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) told me in an interview this afternoon, "and that's what Congressman Ryan has done and I commend him for it.

"There are all sorts of positive ideas out there," Price said. "I think that the roadmap is one of those that we ought to be looking at seriously. Congressman Ryan has introduced it through at least two Congress' now. And it's a very thoughtful and important document that I think positively effects the debate."

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Budget

Democrats: We're Excited To Debate GOP Shadow Budget...Why Aren't Republicans?

Brian Beutler | February 9, 2010, 2:15PM

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

Democrats aren't letting Republicans run away from the GOP shadow budget--a Social Security and Medicare slashing bill sponsored by their top budget guy, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). But they don't want the issue to disappear from view--in fact, they want it to be a defining issue of the 2010 election. And as such are trying to frame it just right--elevating Ryan and his proposal to magnify the differences between Democrats and Republicans.

"Representative Ryan has made a proposal, significant parts of which I do not agree [with]," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) at his weekly press event this afternoon. "However, having said that, it is a serious proposal made by a member in my opinion who has very sincere objectives in mind. And it is a substantive proposal."

I asked Hoyer what he made of the GOP leadership's response to the Ryan plan.

"Mr. Boehner as I understand it, when asked which proposals in the Ryan proposal he [opposed] he couldn't articulate any of them," Hoyer said. "Mr. Ryan is the ranking Republican on the budget committee. If they were the majority, presumably he'd be the chairman of the budget committee. Some of the things he's proposed are controversial."

This is just one of the ways one of the ways Democrats are trying to force Republicans to confront the proposal, which could have long political legs.

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GOP Shadow Budget

Is Ryan's Social Security Slashing Budget Like Contract With America?

Christina Bellantoni | February 9, 2010, 1:44PM

Former Congressman and budget committee chairman Jim Nussle (R-IA) introduces the budget in 2004

Former Rep. Jim Nussle, the architect of Republican budgets under President George W. Bush, says the GOP should spend political capital and embrace a plan that privatizes Social Security and ends Medicare. In an interview with TPMDC, Nussle said that even though Republican leadership isn't publicly jumping on board to Rep. Paul Ryan's budget "roadmap," it is a fiscally responsible framework that will guide the Republicans into the campaign season.

"Even if they don't go exactly the way he wants them to with the roadmap he gives them a lot of good ideas to pick and choose from," Nussle told me today.

And Nussle (R-IA) knows something about writing Republican spending plans, since he led the Budget Committee during Bush's first term. He most recently served as Bush's Office of Management and Budget director, lost the Iowa governor's race in 2006 and now leads a consulting firm.

Nussle compares the early reaction to the Ryan roadmap to when he and Rep. John Boehner (now minority leader) wrote the Contract with America in 1994.

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Paul Ryan

Ryan Gets A Little Help From His Friends - 9 Co-Sponsors Sign On To His Budget Roadmap

Christina Bellantoni | February 8, 2010, 6:32PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

TPMDC has been searching far and wide for public supporters of Rep. Paul Ryan's "Roadmap" budget blueprint, a measure that Republican leaders insist is Ryan's alone and which grips the political third rail of Social Security and Medicare cuts.

But it turns out Ryan, who says he is willing to lose his job over the plan if it means ending the deficit, isn't as lonely as it may seem.

He has nine Republican friends co-sponsoring the measure, which would effectively privatize Social Security if it becomes law. That's unlikely, and both GOP leaders and Ryan's office say this will not be the Republican budget alternative that gets a floor vote this spring.

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2010 elections

Dems Find Their Wedge Issue And Aim To Force GOP Vote On Ryan Plan

Christina Bellantoni | February 8, 2010, 12:29PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)

House Democrats want to kick House Republicans where it hurts, and are exploring ways to force the minority party to take a stand on Rep. Paul Ryan's budget "roadmap" that has become a political minefield in advance of this fall's elections.

A Democratic leadership source told TPMDC they are considering options for putting the Ryan plan on the floor, forcing Republicans to vote for or against a plan they don't want to talk about. This appears to be the Ryan bill, with seven GOP co-sponsors.

While conservative groups love the plan - which cuts Social Security and Medicare benefits before effectively privatizing the entitlement programs - and Ryan says he's willing to lose his job over presenting new policy ideas, GOP leaders are backing away.

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GOP Shadow Budget

Ryan On Social Security Cuts Plan: 'If I Lose My Job Over This, Fine'

Christina Bellantoni | February 8, 2010, 11:26AM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Rep. Paul Ryan is blaming the "Democratic attack machine" even though members of his own party don't publicly support his plan to dramatically cut Medicare and Social Security and effectively privatize those entitlement programs to end the deficit.

In an interview with the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, Ryan (R-WI) defended his "Roadmap" budget blueprint as a way to "prevent a fiscal crisis" in a government that's on a "path to insolvency."

Ryan insisted in the interview his plan was to get ideas on the table and end the policy stalemate in Washington. As we have been reporting, GOP leadership has backed far away from the Ryan plan and instead is touting their skeletal plan from 2009.

"The Democratic attack machine is in full throttle," Ryan told the newspaper. "It's sad but predictable."

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House Republicans

Hensarling Stays On Official GOP Script In Weekly Address And Steers Clear Of Mentioning Social Security (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | February 6, 2010, 6:00AM

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)

A few days ago Rep. Jeb Hensarling was defending a Republican budget plan that offered stark cuts to Social Security and Medicare to end the deficit, but this morning leadership offered him up as the GOP poster boy for a far less specific spending blueprint.

"Serious fiscal responsibility requires more than just tinkering around the margins," Hensarling (R-TX) said in the Republican weekly address.

"Republicans have proposed adopting strict budget caps that limit federal spending on an annual basis and are enforceable by the President," he said. "These caps were a critical plank in the fiscally-responsible budget alternative Republicans proposed last year and yet they are noticeably absent from the President's budget."

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Grover Norquist

Grover Norquist's Group Totally (Hearts) Ryan's Social Security-Slashing Budget

Christina Bellantoni | February 5, 2010, 3:58PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform

A real split is developing between fiscal conservative groups and Congressional Republicans as Rep. Paul Ryan's budget "roadmap" gets more attention.

GOP leaders in the House have said again and again that even though Ryan is their chief budget writer and he'll be the one to offer their alternative spending plan this spring, what he produced showing massive Social Security and Medicare cuts is not their official plan.

But we keep talking to conservatives who are asking in earnest, Why not?

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GOP Shadow Budget

Dems To Force GOP Vote On Anti-Social Security Privatization Resolution

Christina Bellantoni | February 5, 2010, 2:02PM

House Education Chairman George Miller (D-CA), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Democratic Caucus Chairman John B. Larson (D-CT), House Appropriations Chairman David R. Obey (D-WI), DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) (obscured),and Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY)

House Democrats are going to force their Republican colleagues to vote on a resolution opposing the privatization of Social Security. The move shows Democrats are putting their full political muscle into painting the Republicans as enemies of Social Security and using the chief GOP budget writer Rep. Paul Ryan's plan to cut benefits as evidence.

Rep. John Larson (D-CT) and Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) this afternoon introduced the resolution which "expresses the will of House Democrats to preserve Social Security and reaffirms our commitment to working in a bipartisan way to make common sense adjustments to strengthen the program for generations to come."

It's the sort of tough political vote that Democrats have rarely pushed Republicans on since winning back control of Congress in 2006, and similar to resolutions the GOP constantly forced the Democrats to take positions on when they were in power.

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GOP Shadow Budget

Leadership Avoids Ryan Budget As Political Minefield, But Key GOPers Say Go For It!

Christina Bellantoni | February 5, 2010, 11:40AM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Republican leadership for days has been backing away from Rep. Paul Ryan's "Roadmap" budget - which slashes Social Security and Medicare to end the deficit - but key GOP groups say it's both bold and brave.

"It's commendable and very true to his conservative beliefs," former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin told TPMDC in an interview.

"I think it's fabulous, it's a great template for everyone that's not just relying on smoke and mirrors," said Holtz-Eakin, who was an adviser to Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.

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