Paul Ryan's Budget Backers Have 'Severely Diminished Capacity,' White House Spokesman Says

WASHINGTON -- White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on Wednesday blasted the House Republican budget proposal unveiled this week and said that anyone who supports it must be "deliberately ignorant" and have "severely diminished capacity."

During a gaggle with reporters aboard Air Force One, Carney said the budget plan offered by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has "many serious problems," including its dramatic cuts to Pell Grants and clean energy investments. Democrats have slammed the GOP budget for, among other things, proposing to change Medicare into a voucher-based system, repeal President Barack Obama's health care law and scale back many social welfare programs.

Carney then took his criticisms a step further: He questioned the intellectual competency of the GOP lawmakers backing the bill.

"You have to be aggressively and deliberately ignorant of the world economy not to know and understand that clean energy technologies are going to play a huge role in the 21st century," he said. "You have to have severely diminished capacity to understand what drives economic growth in industrialized countries in this century if you do not understand that education is the key that unlocks the door to prosperity."

"The budget proposed by Chairman Ryan and supported overwhelmingly already by Republicans suggests that those problems exist in the minds of the supporters of that plan," Carney continued.

A moment later, the White House spokesman appeared to try to dial back his remarks.

"That was a bad sentence, but you get my point," Carney told reporters. "I lost track because I was watching RG3 over there, future quarterback of my Washington Redskins."

A request for clarification from Carney was not immediately returned. A request for comment from Ryan's office also was not immediately returned.

Comments

[pg9769]

06:57 PM on 03/23/2012

Hahaha, that's a good one coming from Carney. Has he proposed a budget? I didn't think so...

[Lightoward]

06:14 PM on 03/26/2012

Regardless! That doesn't diminish the fact that the Ryan budget is a cruel Frankenstein monster that would unleash horror across the land.

[Glen Davi]

11:11 AM on 03/23/2012

dcbarton as well as many other posters are concerned with the debt. I too have concerns.
However I only need look across the eastern pond (atlantic) to see the effects of austerity programs. Anyone looking can see it's effect.

Repubs are always pointing there and saying we will become them. I say, take a real good look at what austerity looks like and then imagine what America would look like with Paul Ryan's budget in place.


Many posters are saying the numbers are false and the economy is not beginning to recovery. Years ago I was in a travel center and happened to be behind some truckers talking about freight movement. Since then I have followed the trucking industry as part of my model when digesting economic news. A new trucking industry report out says drivers are leaving the industry in groves because they are finding other jobs.

Call me crazy, but I'm going to listen to the men and women who move freight around this country for a living. If freight is up there is only one reason, people have money to spend, and there is only one reason for that, they have a job.

[Pastori Balele]

02:23 AM on 03/23/2012

Why bother with Ryan. His political career has come to an end. I was in his district recently and people there really hate him for the following: Paul crafted legislation to end Medicare and replace it with Ryan-Care. Ryan-Care puts a cap of $5,000 voucher per year on seniors’ medical care. If seniors exhaust their voucher, they are left to die. That has angered many seniors. Ryan would not dare hold town-hall meetings in his district. Recently he called police to eject people from his office. They were demanding to talk to him about the Janesville assembly plant now closed. Paul can rattle in Washington -not in his district. Second Paul did not criticize Scott Walker for abusing workers in government and private sectors. Walker stripped workers of labor union rights and medical benefits for Wisconsin farmers. We are also told Ryan has buddies in TEA Party which lied to Wisconsin voters to elect Walker. As a whole Ryan career in Wisconsin is done. Let him make noise in Washington D.C. - not in his district. Ryan may as well start applying for jobs with next President Obama administration.

[l78lancer]

07:17 PM on 03/22/2012

Carney is being generous. While Ryan's 2.0 plan may have numerous issues and problems, it essentially has one big problem, it is essentially the same plan that he previously presented. The previous plan was already soundly rejected.

The GOP's short term memory is seriously degraded. Unfortunately they seem to thing that everyone else's is, too.

[amluvinit2]

07:14 PM on 03/22/2012

Sometimes you just have to tell it like it is, and how you feel.

Never once has the GOP even suggested anything that would help this country. Except for GOP Richard Hanna, who has asked all women to give their money to Democrats.

We have to fight the GOP agenda tooth and nail. We couldn't survive another era of GOP dominance in Politics.

[tmm77625]

05:02 PM on 03/22/2012

This kind of rhetoric is the real problem in Washington. Congrats, Mr. Carney, you've made yourself the problem. What a dolt. Obama should fire him tomorrow to show he is serious about changing the atmosphere in DC.

[maninal2]

05:14 PM on 03/22/2012

After all the right has said about Obama this is what you call " the problem"? Seriously?

[tmm77625]

07:10 PM on 03/22/2012

Yes, seriously. This kind of rhetoric has been being tossed back and forth in increasing volume and vitriol for years, and it comes from both sides. Maybe if you paid attention to the horrible things said by people on the left about people on the right, rather than reserving your indignation for when your side is slammed, you'd know that.

[Richard Kent Matthews]

12:27 PM on 03/22/2012

The crux of the Paul Ryan Budget: In the words of Ebeneezer Scrooge, "If they are to die, then let them do so and decrease the surplus population of the world." Vote your conscience, Republicans, but remember, what goes around, comes around. You may lose that fortune one day and there could be no support for you if you buy into this man's or this party's madness.
Li

[alex12345]

12:12 PM on 03/22/2012

he call it has he sees it..what's wrong with that?

[Watching rock grow]

02:41 PM on 03/22/2012

It's a rather small view of reality. That is what is wrong with it.

[maninal2]

05:15 PM on 03/22/2012

In contrast to the GOP it is reality

[cico31]

12:01 PM on 03/22/2012

Ryan submits a plan........senate still no budget 1058 days ..

[tmm77625]

05:03 PM on 03/22/2012

Well of course not! They don't want to go on the record for anything and have to be held accountable.

[Llib Noswad]

11:56 AM on 03/22/2012

If anyone has “severely diminished capacity” it’s carney and his ilk.

[GranCanyon]

12:46 PM on 03/22/2012

EXACTLY my take, too.

[Lightoward]

09:11 PM on 03/26/2012

Hope releasing all of that substance didn't make you feel faint.

[ash5114221]

11:03 AM on 03/22/2012

Sorry,Congress.

[ash5114221]

11:02 AM on 03/22/2012

Well,the Speaker did say there were alot of stupid people in Congree,right at the moment.

[l78lancer]

07:28 PM on 03/22/2012

Indeed he did.

[ennis438]

10:28 AM on 03/22/2012

There is another much more feasible option than ignorance. It is green and found inside wallets. It's called money. Or bribery to be precise. When you have Congressional prostitutes who don't give a hoot about the people and instead only care about the criminals who buy their election, then you get this. Ryan is bought and paid for by enemies of America. Enemies because they don't care how much Americans suffer as long as they get richer. Thanks to the useless Supreme Court and Citizens United, now this is perfectly legal. Perfectly legal to buy elections where prostitution is practiced all the time. The high bidders get the best sex (which is money in this game) , while the bidders get anti-American legislation to make them richer. Paul Ryan and his party are fine with this, so this is the type of budget you would expect from the hookers.

[sgtscottm2]

10:35 AM on 03/22/2012

are you campaigning here in the HP comments section or just venting? You're not convincing anyone to switch over to your side so why all the intolerance? This is a lefty website which means that most who are lefties are already on your side and those who aren't aren't going to switch because you go off on a rant. You just wasted your time for what? So people will push your favorite button and give you self worth? It makes you feel better about yourself seeing that favorite button pushed by others doesn't it? Maybe you could better use your time discussing issues instead of just venting. It would make you a more productive person.

[Lightoward]

09:19 PM on 03/26/2012

\\You're not convincing anyone to switch over to your side so why all the intolerance? This is a lefty website which means that most who are lefties are already on your side and those who aren't aren't going to switch because you go off on a rant. You just wasted your time for what?//

Change the words "lefty" to right wing and "website" to media, and your question applies to all right-wing talk radio hosts and all Fox News commentators and "news" readers.

[sgtscottm2]

10:07 AM on 03/22/2012

i think Jay has a seriously diminished capacity to understand that our escalating debt is costing us a million dollars by the time i've finished writing this comment.

[Watching rock grow]

02:45 PM on 03/22/2012

The national debt is a real concern only if you plan to dump the nation. Otherwise it is just a distraction to alarm people about. National debt doesn't work like household debt where there is a day of reckoning.

[tmm77625]

05:05 PM on 03/22/2012

Ummm tell that to Greece.

Interest has to be paid on that debt. That becomes an increasingly large part of the total budget annually until, well, until you cannot pay for anything else.

[Mac Howard]

09:51 AM on 03/22/2012

Often a great deal of sense is spoken in jest.