Archive for the ‘Representative Paul Ryan (R)’ Category

VIDEO – PAUL RYAN/UNCOMMON KNOWLEDGE INTERVIEW ON HEALTHCARE

Sunday, October 16th, 2011

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VIDEO – PAUL RYAN’S SPEECH AT THE HOOVER INSTITUTE ON HEALTHCARE

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

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THE EVOLUTION OF OUR BLOATED WELFARE STATE

Sunday, September 4th, 2011

Published on The Weekly Standard (www.weeklystandard.com)

The End of the New Deal Order

It won’t win the future.

Matthew Continetti

September 5, 2011, Vol. 16, No. 47

EXCERPT FROM THIS ARTICLE:  The modern welfare state was born. In our era, Keller writes, political debate isn’t over how to constrain government. It’s over how to use government “to enforce and enhance the rights of individuals and groups.” And by the time FDR delivered his Second Bill of Rights address in January 1944, the number of rights had mushroomed. Life, liberty, property, and conscience were just for starters. Equally pressing were “the right of every family to a decent home” and “the right to a good education” and the right to economic “security.”

The reporter went to the City of Light in the summer of 1925. He found himself in the capital of a nation at the height of its military, economic, and cultural power. The continental empires that had been threats to France—Germany, the Hapsburgs, Russia—were smoldering wrecks. France’s economy seemed to have recovered from the destruction of the First World War. Modern culture flourished in the city. A visit to the Left Bank brought encounters with writers, artists, and philosophers; with the giants of the French avant-garde; with bankers, newspapermen, and politicians fluent in literary debate.

The reporter was struck by the equanimity of his surroundings. “The country was prosperous,” he wrote, “the people relaxed, the Continent at last at peace.” What the young William L. Shirer did not understand at the time, though, was that the apparent wealth and order rested on weak foundations. Part of the problem was demographic: The French population was shrinking. Birthrates had been falling before the war and continued to plunge after it ended. More than a million Frenchmen were permanently disabled from injuries in battle. Average family size had withered. Mass immigration alone “enabled the country to function.”

Inflation, meanwhile, was robbing the franc of its purchasing power. A franc in 1939 would be worth only one-seventieth of its value in 1913. The rising cost of living made it difficult for families and businesses to plan. Taxes were indirect, inefficient, and regressive. Government finances were a mess. Cronyism was rampant. (more…)

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VIDEO – THE PAUL RYAN FACTOR BY DANIEL HENNINGER

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

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PAUL RYAN DISSECTS THE GANG OF SIX PLAN

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE www.nationalreview.com

The Corner

EXCERPT FROM THIS ARTICLE:

As for the negatives, Ryan blasts the plan, which “appears to increase revenues by $2.8 trillion,” for relying far too heavily on tax increases. He also raises concerns over the composition of the proposed spending cuts in the plan, which appear to achieve most of their “savings” through cuts to the defense budget — for example, a $890 billion reduction to “security programs.” And last but not least, Ryan is not pleased with the plan’s failure to address the budget-busting consequences of Obamacare, which was a primary reason why he opposed the deficit commission’s recommendations

Ryan Dissects the Gang of Six Plan

Posted on July 20, 2011 9:41 AM

House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), who also sat on President Obama’s deficit commission (and voted against its final report), has released an initial analysis of the $3.7 trillion deficit-reduction proposal unveiled by the Gang of Six on Tuesday. The plan, which Ryan points out “is not a budget,” is woefully short on details (e.g., it instructs Congress to “encourage greater economic growth” and “spend health care dollars more efficiently”), but the House Budget chair does his best to tease out the plan’s shortcomings and unanswered questions, as well as its “potential for worthwhile budget and tax reforms.”

On the positive side, Ryan praises the plan for acknowledging the need for tax reform and he approves of many of its recommendations, for example: lowering the top marginal tax rate to 29 percent, transitioning to a territorial tax system, and requiring any unexpected surplus in revenue be used to further reduce rates, rather than fuel new spending. However, Ryan argues that the latter proposal, while “laudable,” falls short because it appears to lack an enforcement mechanism, such as a firm cap on total spending and revenue.

Ryan also points to proposed caps on discretionary spending and the plan’s requirement that committees come up with significant savings in the mandatory portion of the budget or face automatic spending reductions as promising elements. Other positive signs: repeals of the CLASS act included in the health-care law; calls for medical malpractice reform; and reforming the “emergency spending” process.

As for the negatives, Ryan blasts the plan, which “appears to increase revenues by $2.8 trillion,” for relying far too heavily on tax increases. He also raises concerns over the composition of the proposed spending cuts in the plan, which appear to achieve most of their “savings” through cuts to the defense budget — for example, a $890 billion reduction to “security programs.” And last but not least, Ryan is not pleased with the plan’s failure to address the budget-busting consequences of Obamacare, which was a primary reason why he opposed the deficit commission’s recommendations.

Additionally, Ryan raises the following questions:

Unspecified Savings Relative to What? The plan is described as savings relative to a “baseline.”  The plan appears to use three different baselines for showing savings:  1) CBO’s current law March baseline; 2) an undefined modification to that baseline (what it calls a “plausible baseline”); and 3) the Fiscal Commission’s baseline.  It does not provide annual spending and revenue totals by category, relying instead on savings relative to three different baselines.  So, it is unclear what exactly the spending and tax proposals are.

Where Does the Revenue Come From? It sets a tall order for tax reform with what appear to be conflicting assumptions: 1) raise $1.2 trillion in revenue; 2) repeal the alternative minimum tax at a cost of $1.7 trillion; 3) lower tax rates to encourage economic growth (top rate of no higher than 29%); 4) do not eliminate tax expenditures for health care, charitable giving, homeownership, retirement, and low-income workers and families (the largest of the tax expenditures); 5) raise $133 billion in revenue by 2021 for the highway trust fund without raising gasoline taxes.

Where Do Health Care Savings Come From? It claims $117 billion in additional federal health care savings over 10 years by assuming that health care spending per capita grows no faster than economic growth (GDP) plus one percent.  The new health care law already requires the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) to cut Medicare spending growth per beneficiary to achieve this growth rate starting in 2020.  CBO currently projects that Medicare spending will stay within that growth rate through 2021.[2] Therefore, it is unclear how the savings are derived.

Also, if there are savings to be achieved, there is no enforcement mechanism for achieving them since the plan would “require action by Congress and the President” to limit growth to these levels.  Current law requires the President to submit a plan and Congress to enact legislation to make additional savings in Medicare that the President and Congress have ignored.

Where are the Missing Mandatory Savings? The plan lists $516 billion in mandatory savings for Committees to achieve (including program integrity savings and savings from modifying the CPI), but then claims $641 billion in mandatory savings, leaving $125 billion in missing savings.

Pathway or Roadblocks to Social Security Reform? While the plan seems to be a well-intentioned effort to move Social Security reform forward, it sets out procedures that could derail both Social Security reform and additional spending savings called for in the plan.  First, it does not allow a Social Security reform bill to proceed until the Senate has gotten 60 votes to pass additional deficit reduction.  Second, it blocks the additional deficit reduction bill if the Senate does not get 60 votes to pass the Social Security bill.

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VIDEO – PAUL RYAN ON MEDICARE PAYMENT ADVISORY BOARD

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

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KARL ROVE – HOW THE GOP CAN BLOW IT IN 2012

Friday, July 1st, 2011
The Wall Street Journal

  • JUNE 30, 2011

Thomas Dewey tried to run out the clock on Harry Truman. It didn’t work.

High unemployment, anemic growth, defections in key groups such as independents and Hispanics, and unpopular policies are among the reasons President Obama is unlikely to win re-election. But likely to lose is far from certain to lose. If Republicans make enough unforced errors, Mr. Obama could win.

The first such mistake would be forgetting that the target voters are those ready to swing away from Mr. Obama (independents, Hispanics, college educated and young voters) and those whose opposition to Mr. Obama has deepened since 2008 (seniors and working-class voters).

Republican presidential candidates at the Republican presidential debate earlier this month.

rove0630

These voters gave the GOP a big win in the 2010 midterm. They are deeply concerned about the economy, jobs, spending, deficits and health care. Many still like Mr. Obama personally but disapprove of his handling of the issues. They are not GOP primary voters, but they are watching the contest. The Republican Party will find it more difficult to gain their support if its nominee adopts a tone that’s harshly negative and personally anti-Obama. (more…)

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PEGGY NOONAN – ‘UNSUSTAINABLE’

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011
The Wall Street Journal

  • MAY 27, 2011, 7:51 P.M. ET

Word of the Decade: ‘Unsustainable’

Washington finally acknowledges the debt crisis. But can it act?

  • By PEGGY NOONAN

  • We’re at a funny place. The American establishment has finally come around, in unison, to admitting that America is in crisis, that our debt actually threatens our ability to endure, that if we don’t make progress on this, we are going to near our endpoint as a nation. I am struck very recently by the number of leaders in American business, politics and journalism who now get a certain faraway look at the end of an evening or a meal and say, “It’s worse than people think, you know.” The debt crisis in Europe is not easing but worsening, the U.S. bond markets could bail tomorrow, the culture of Washington will kill any serious attempts at reform . . .

noonan0528

The American establishment, on both sides of the political divide, is admitting as never before that we are in an existential challenge. And this is progress. It was not always so! It wasn’t so two years ago.

(more…)

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VIDEO – PAUL RYAN ON HEALTHCARE

Friday, May 27th, 2011

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THE GOP FIELD: ALL TALK, NO DO

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
The Wall Street Journal

  • MAY 20, 2011

If the Republican candidates don’t take on tough issues as Paul Ryan, Chris Christie and others have, they might as well go hold forth with The Donald.

  • By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL

  • Newt Gingrich embarked on a national apology tour this week, which was not exactly how he pictured his 2012 rollout. There’s a simple lesson here for those seeking the GOP nomination: Stop talking.
  • pw0520

His rivals, and the press, ought to be thanking Mr. Gingrich for his “Meet the Press” performance, for finally injecting clarity into the GOP battle. Why oh why, everyone keeps asking, does the Republican race excite less enthusiasm than a curling competition? Why does watching the speeches and the interviews require No-Doz . . . or Tums . . . or an epidural? What is the problem, people?

Mr. Gingrich supplied that answer on NBC last weekend as he talked, and talked, and talked. Make no mistake, the former speaker put in the usual fabulously pithy oration—rapping President Obama, summoning Ronald Reagan, knocking House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s Medicare reform. Yet in all that talk, talk, talk, Mr. Gingrich never actually laid out a bold vision of what he’d do, do, do as president. That sums up the problem with the GOP field.  (more…)

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