Republicans In Top Tier Races Endorse Paul Ryan's Controversial Budget Plan

UPDATED: Additional GOP candidates supporting Ryan's plan have been included below.

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While many House Republicans in leadership positions have shied away from embracing Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) controversial budget proposal, a handful of GOP congressional candidates are doing so while campaigning in their districts to the party faithful.

Ryan is the top Republican on the House Budget Committee and set to become chairman if his party wins back control of Congress in November. Ryan claims that his Roadmap for America's Future Act of 2010 would eliminate the long-term budget deficit. It includes sharp cuts in just about all government spending -- Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, defense, education, the FBI, etc.

With so many top Republicans reluctant to name any painful spending cuts they would push in order to reduce America's deficit, it's not surprising that they have therefore been reluctant to endorse Ryan's "Roadmap." So far, there are just 13 co-sponsors to his plan.

There are, however, several top-tier candidates who are expressing support for Ryan's budget plan:

-- Martha Roby, AL-2: On June 4, Roby put out a statement criticizing Democrats for refusing to move forward with a budget proposal. "The American people deserve better. They deserve solutions," said Roby. "Conservative leaders like Rep. Paul Ryan are offering real solutions to cut wasteful spending, such as canceling unspent TARP and stimulus funds, cutting non-defense spending back to 2008 levels, and reducing the government workforce. I endorse these solutions and other common sense approaches to start getting our fiscal house back in order." Roby is one of the National Republican Campaign Committee's "Young Guns," the party's top new prospects.

-- Francisco Canseco, TX-23: In a video posted on July 13, Canesco told a questioner that he supports Ryan's alternative budget proposal. Canseco is also one of the NRCC's Young Guns.

-- Andy Barr, KY-6: In a July 15 radio appearance on WVLK-AM 590, a caller asked Barr whether "we can count on you to support the Republican budget." Barr responded, "Yeah. I mean, absolutely. I'm not in Congress now, of course, and I don't have an opportunity to support a particular budget, but that's certainly preferable -- that budget, a leaner budget -- is certainly preferable to the ones that have been offered by the President and the Speaker of the House."

-- Dan Lungren, CA-3: Lungren is already in Congress, but he hasn't yet co-sponsored Ryan's plan. On Aug. 11, Lungren told the site ThinkProgress that the roadmap was "the best long-term look at trying to deal with our fiscal insanity right now that anybody has done." He refused to say, however, whether he would officially sign on to the bill before the election.

UPDATE: Sean Duffy, the Republican candidate in WI-7, is also backing Ryan's roadmap: "I don't regret his roadmap for America. I think it's one of the best proposals to get our country back on track. I think it's a starting point to...fiscal responsibility."

Robert Hurt, running in Virginia's 5th district and a "contender" in the Young Guns program, has said Ryan is "one of the first people" he would work with if elected to Congress. Ryan is also one of the co-founders of the Young Guns program.

Part of the reason these candidates may be supporting Ryan's budget plan is that they have no other alternative. They are coming out against Democratic policies, but since the Republican leadership hasn't put forward any blueprint, they are forced to endorse Ryan's roadmap.

Former House majority leader Dick Armey last week chastised Republican leaders for distancing themselves from Ryan's roadmap, saying the "fact that he has only 13 co-sponsors is a big reason why our folks are agitated against the Republicans as well as the Democrats." He added that Ryan is "probably the most creative-thinking and most courageous guy in Washington."


Several economic think tanks have raised questions about whether Ryan's plan would actually do all it promises. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities has noted that the roadmap would raise taxes on the vast majority of Americans (while cutting them for only the wealthiest few) without actually significantly reducing the deficit. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has stated that Ryan's roadmap will not be part of the GOP agenda this fall. "There are parts of it that are well done," Boehner told reporters in July. "Other parts I have some doubts about, in terms of how good the policy is."

UPDATE: In a Broomfield Republican Women's candidate forum on July 15, Colorado Senate candidate Ken Buck said he liked Ryan's roadmap: "The best plan that I saw to try to balance this budget is Paul Ryan's plan, a congressman who is the minority leader on the House Budget Committee," Buck said. "He has put out a plan that has suggested that we can balance the budget through some spending cuts and, and changing some of our tax structure."

Comments

[mikegriffith]

02:32 PM on 09/08/2010

Phew! "Draconian"?! "Draconian"?! Cutting spending levels back to 2008 levels would be "draconian"?! That's a hoot.

When you have a decade of reckless, runaway spending, the only sane, responsible thing to do is to start making deep, meaningful cuts to get the budget under control and to restore our fiscal and economic health. Otherwise, we're going to end up like California, Greece, Spain, etc., etc.

We should cut spending back to 2002 levels, if we're really serious about getting our fiscal house in order and about resotring our financial credibility.

[chanook106]

09:04 PM on 09/05/2010

It's in the best interest of Republicans to keep there plans non-specific. That way no one can examine the nuttiness of some of their ideas. Ryan is kind of letting the cat of the bag whereas other Republicans are thinking that anti-Obama, anti-incumbent feelings will be enough to carry them to victory and sadly it probably will.

[JSquercia]

04:46 PM on 09/23/2010

From what I understand Ryan is for having NO tax on Money earned from Money eliminating the Capital Gains , Dividend and Estate Tax .
Doesn't help ME one bit, I'm still trying to get them to STOP taxing Unemployment and Social Security

[latinonationreport]

01:56 AM on 09/01/2010

craig2 makes a decent (not great point)...Clearly Real Estate is a bargain now and that could be a great investment for anyone much more the SS system needs to make a great investment and get a good deal to maintain itself...
The problem is "buyers remorse" from the electorate already fed up with too much stimulus and what is viewed as too much govt int. in the banks such as with Freddy and Fanny---not a bad idea, just don't see it happening anytime soon....WE'd all be better off to tackle immigration reform as the first issue to get the economy AND MORALE back in American's favor!!
www.latinonationreport.com

[LaPlacaRifa48619]

09:41 PM on 08/31/2010

Is this fellow the reincarnation of Pre-Ghost Visit Ebenezer Scrooge?
Certainly sounds like it.

Yet, this is what we elect to office...
A smiler with a dagger held behind his back, and the will to use it on you.

Yet another example of the GOP's F@$& THE POOR Political Strategy that has been so for over four decades. Must be nice to think like that...until the time comes when you yourself need the very services you voted to incinerate.
Then where will you run to?
--RKJ

[GozoPolitics]

08:45 PM on 08/31/2010

ADAM SMITH, FATHER OF CAPITALISM, SAYS THE WEALTHY SHOULD PAY THEIR SHARE:

What capitalism guidebook do the Republicans and other so-called Conservatives have in mind when they talk about strangling the American economy?

I like this quote from Smith’s THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. It would be hard to find a clearer statement——by the founder of our capitalist system——of why the so-called Conservative or Republican ideology in relation to who really should pay taxes:

“The subject of every state ought to contribute toward towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Taxes are not a punishment: they should be a badge of honor. High income is a testament to the success of the American Way.

Any real capitalist would know this. I don’t know what to call those people who would bankrupt America into second-class status, rather than pay for the benefits they get from our great system.

Does anybody else have an idea for what to label these would-be, anti-capitalist, capitalists?

[professor]

07:05 PM on 08/31/2010

There once was a hardware store owner/ small businessman in a small town that had zoned out big box stores and eyesores like McDonalds. Instead of supporting the preservation of his home, he sided with the corporations, hoping, I guess to gobble up some crumbs from the floor. After having helped open the town up to the corporations, instead of crumbs, he got the shaft, in the form of Home Depot, right down the street! Hurray for Small Businessmen. Champions of the Long-Range Perspective. Rocket Scientists, par excellence. Keep up the good work, Small Businessmen. Keep siding with Walmarts. They will be very grateful, and your grinding, petty greed will be assuaged with eminent pettiness.

[take10]

05:24 PM on 08/31/2010

You can always depend on people who depend, almost entirely, on a service to vote against it, and therefore, their own best interests. Seniors are being scared as usual by republicans with misinformation about democrats, while at the same time making plans to kick her out to the street without the safety nets of social security and medicare. Then, they can take whatever she's paid into it and pass it on to their wealthy friends via lower taxes. I don't know about the rest of you, but, I got a decent tax cut and I am not bit(hing about having to pay what I owe for the services and operations all of us share and need. If teabaggers and rethugs take over any house of congress, you'll wish you were back where we are presently and fight to get here. They've fool us more than once! My congeniality only goes so far, I see the handwriting on wall, and it' isn't telling of any progress to be expected from those say 'No' miscreants.

[TruEngineHearing]

02:04 PM on 08/31/2010

Yes, privatize Social Security so we can put our money to good use in the stock market... oh, wait... Well, in real estate where there's tons of upside and... no, wait.

Better yet, let's just put all our money on the roller coaster and see how fast cash can really go.

[hopeisalive]

12:59 PM on 08/31/2010

If a Republican "Think(I use the word loosly) Tank" can state that his plan will do little or nothing to reduce the debt and that the only ones really to benefit are the very rich, why would anyone support him at all? We have given alot to those who have and they, the past majority Party, spent with the cutting of revenues. Why would any thinking person vote to put this group back into power again? Why vote a group who have contributed very little for the welfare of this country over the past 120 months be given the power to do it again? No Plan, No new ideas, NO WAY!

[sugarfree]

09:02 PM on 09/06/2010

What i understand is the middle class and the poor will pay more taxes than the rich. everyone should read this article.

[bronncohowie]

12:40 PM on 08/31/2010

Typical GOBP/teabagger "road map":

Eliminate Medicare & Medicaid. Eliminate Social Security or scale it back to the benefit level of 1950. Huge tax cuts for the wealthies of Americans and for the largest corporations. Cut spending for everything but defense. Who pays for all of this "cutting" ?? THE MIDDLE CLASS !!!!

Anyone who votes for the GOBP/teabagger pigs is either stupid, lives in a cave or is dead !!!!

[HarmNone]

12:17 PM on 08/31/2010

"It includes sharp cuts in just about all government spending -- Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, defense, education, the FBI, etc." Wondering if all the baggers are still happy about voting for this guy? Weren't they the ones repeatedly stating 'take your hands off my medicare'?? Or do they think he'll only touch everyone else's medicare?

[follygirl]

12:12 PM on 08/31/2010

Taking from the poor to give to the rich. It's the only "plan" the Godless Obstructionist Party can come up with.

[rayoflightinaseaoffog]

11:58 AM on 08/31/2010

Not very complete as it doesn't list all of those who are tied to the plan.

[Roy Merritt old car guy]

11:50 AM on 08/31/2010

If you will remember Marie Antoinette said that if the people don't have bread let them eat cake. She would fit right in with the crowd trying to get back in power. What I don't understand is that anyone who works for a living or has a small business would not be up in arms right now. Why do the very people who are going to be hurt keep voting for the Republican Tea Party. I would like to know the number of Social Security recipients that are Tea Party members why don't they drink lye and get it overwith it is suicide anyway you look at it.

[jeremyfive]

11:39 AM on 08/31/2010

That Social Security stockpile is too tempting for thieving Republicans.