Free Republic

Writing about Republicans in U.S. House of Representatives, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman says Paul Ryan is “basically, the best con man they’ve got.” He goes on to characterize the modern Republican Party” as “a post-policy enterprise, which doesn’t do real solutions to real problems.” We think the reverse is true. It is Paul Krugman who is the con artist with no real solutions to our most important economic problems. Paul Ryan, by contrast, has put forth bold policy proposals that have been favorably scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and are actually closer to mainstream economic thinking...

Paul Ryan proposed a private health insurance alternative to Medicare for future retirees, liberal critics pounced. It’s another scheme to undermine health care for the elderly by “privatizing” and “voucher-izing” the program, they said.Yet, almost one third of seniors are already in private health insurance plans. They are called Medicare Part C, or Medicare Advantage, plans. And you would be hard pressed to find any Democratic office holder who wants to abolish them. The reason? Seniors choose to be in these plans because they like them better than traditional Medicare.Not only do seniors like them, but they appear to provide...

Talk show host Mark Levin told House Budget Committee Chair Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) that the budget deal announced today with Sen. Patti Murray (D-WA) was a "Mickey Mouse" deal, tinkering at the margins of the federal budget, undoing the sequester and exchanging immediate spending increases for future spending cuts. Ryan countered that "elections have consequences," and that many members of the Republican caucus were worried that the next tranche of sequester cuts would hit the military exclusively. He explained that there would be a net savings of $23 billion after $62 billion in new spending was offset by $85...

How can anyone take President Obama seriously when he tells us our national debt is no big deal? Well, we have to take him seriously, because, unserious thinking or not, he has serious power, including the power to obstruct progress on reducing the debt. I'm not making this up, of course, which is too bad because it illustrates why it is so hard for Republicans to work with this man. He neither views the fiscal world from the same lens nor shares the goal of significant debt reduction. In an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, Obama said, "We don't...

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Sunday said he will not back down from the battle to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act even though some Republicans think the party should move on. Ryan dismissed criticism that House Republicans have virtually no chance of dismantling the signature legislative accomplishment of Obama’s first term and their efforts might be better expended elsewhere. He said his budget assumes the repeal of the healthcare law, in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” When host Chris Wallace challenged him on that assumption, Ryan said he would not give up the fight. “That’s...

For months, pundits and politicians have been saying that Americans have a math problem. They have a point, for Mr. Obama routinely champions the idea that running annual deficits in excess of $1 trillion dollars can be continued, simply by requiring Americans to pay $200 billion in taxes more each year. Anyone with a 3rd grade grasp of math has long ago come to the conclusion that even if Mr. Obama gets his way, huge annual deficits will remain, and the nation cannot sustain the current level of profligate spending indefinitely. Somehow, contrary to all known mathematics principles, and contrary...

We do not know who will win the White House in November. But we do know that American politics has crossed the Rubicon on spending and entitlements, and these issues will at long last complete the journey from a forbidden third rail to a central element of national politics. Even if Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan lose this year’s battle to Barack Obama, they will win the war on the challenge of our generation. Congressman Paul Ryan is best known for his budget, the Ryan Roadmap, which ties together the two sides of our fiscal-crisis coin: First, the major entitlements...

The political left is doing the St. Vitus dance over Paul Ryan's budget. This is the proposal Ryan put forth as Chairman of the House Republican Budget Committee to deal with the nation's fiscal crisis. Democrats are labeling it as "radical," and "extremist," especially Ryan's plans to reform Medicare. The president has called the Ryan budget "social Darwinism." Democratic National Committee Chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, said it "would end Medicare as we know it." Not to be outdone, Republicans have launched some rhetorical hand grenades of their own. Mitt Romney told CBS News' Bob Schieffer that "there's only one president...

Mitt Romney made a smart executive decision selecting Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate. Ryan's genial personality, serious policy wonkery and political courage have dazzled conservatives and won respect even in a few liberal circles. Romney scores points for political courage as well. He knew liberal politicians and journalists would talk in punishing terms about Ryan's budget ideas. They did not disappoint. It took only minutes for the onslaught to begin. At the same time liberal media outlets acknowledge the country now faces two opposing visions of government, why is only the Romney-Ryan vision "polarizing" and "extreme"? To...

TRUMP Emphasizing that he “cherish[es] our seniors,” The Donald said in an interview that Republicans are on a risky “ledge” by backing a plan that could be perceived as hurting older Americans. “I’d have to study the plan,” Trump said in an interview on CNN. “I will tell you, I think it's very dangerous for the Republicans to go on this ledge, because I, for one, would have to be very, very careful.” “I have a lot of respect for Paul Ryan, but what is happening is the Republicans are going way, way, way far out on the ledge,” he...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) on Tuesday commended House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget, calling it "Serious & necessary." Palin, a potential 2012 presidential candidate, said that Ryan's proposal is a good start (and linked to an op-ed from December when she praised Ryan's previous budget plan, a "Roadmap for America's Future"). She tweeted: There is hope! Serious & necessary leadership rolls out serious & necessary reform proposal. Good start (from Dec. http://on.wsj.com/eP0Kwo)

Republicans will present this week a 2012 budget proposal that would cut more than $4 trillion from federal spending projected over the next decade and transform the Medicare health program for the elderly, a move that will dramatically reshape the budget debate in Washington. The budget has been prepared by Rep. Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican and the new chairman of the House Budget Committee, and it represents the most complete attempt so far by Republicans to make good on their promises during the 2010 midterm elections to cut government spending and deficits. Though Rep. Ryan based the Medicare portion...

Representative Paul Ryan released a preview of his game-changing budget/debt proposal Monday night in an op-ed with the Wall Street Journal.  The plan, proposal, path, or whatever you want to call it brings with it the weight of some pretty sizable figures.  We're talking $6 Trillion in cuts over ten years folks.  Ryan has been hinting at a shocking figure, but who knew he was eyeballing this... "The GOP Path to Prosperity"   Wall Street Journal: Our budget, which we call The Path to Prosperity, is very different. For starters, it cuts $6.2 trillion in spending from the president's budget over...

Today House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan unveils his plan to save America’s future. I expect that three aspects will get a lot of attention: the proposal for Medicare, the reform of Medicaid, and the ten-year budget numbers. However, I think the most important feature of the budget is a vision for the role of government that restores the promise of long-term fiscal sobriety, economic growth, and intergenerational fairness. Imagine this: It will pay off the national debt by 2050. Critics from the left will quickly attack “premium support” for Medicare and “block grants” for Medicaid as cheap attempts to...

The Republican budget proposal will eliminate the national debt while still preserving costly entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security, Rep. Paul Ryan told CNBC. Speaking just hours before the spending plan gets its formal introduction before Congress, Ryan, head of the House Budget Committee, said the debt will peak at 74.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2014 and then drop from there. "We've got to show the country that we can get this situation under control and grow the economy, and that's what we're doing," he said. "So whether (Democratic Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid is willing to...

The deficit is a spending problem. That's the simple truth. If federal government spending after President Clinton's last budget had simply grown fast enough to keep up with inflation and the growth in population, the 2012 budget would be running over a $70 billion surplus. Instead, federal expenditures more than doubled from $1.86 to $3.82 trillion in the ten years from 2001 to 2011, causing this year’s enormous $1.65 trillion deficit. During President Obama's first three years in office the government's deficits are adding up to over $4.3 trillion. And there is no let up in sight. The Congressional Budget...

2012 plan revamps Medicare, lowers corporate tax rate to 25%WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Opening a new battle in Washington’s budget wars, House Republicans on Tuesday proposed to slash government spending by $6.2 trillion over 10 years, cut the top corporate tax rate to 25%, and dramatically overhaul the Medicare program. Republicans’ fiscal 2012 budget blueprint, released by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, would also scrap President Barack Obama’s health-care law, remake federal welfare programs and allow oil and gas companies to drill more freely. It cuts $6.2 trillion over the next decade compared to Obama’s 2012 budget proposal....

Rolling out a plan that is as shocking in how much it cuts as President Obama’s first budget was in how much it spent, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan is laying out a case for huge spending cuts in a new white paper that couches the coming battle in almost apocalyptic terms. “This generation’s defining moment has arrived,” Ryan says in his conclusion. At issue is the GOP’s proposed budget, which cuts $5.8 trillion over 10 years, including massive cuts to entitlement programs experts say are driving the government towards a fiscal cliff. The bold move by Ryan and House...

Pelosi rips Ryan's budget By Jordan Fabian - 04/05/11 11:10 AM ET House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) took to Twitter Tuesday to criticize House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget plan. While Ryan was still holding a press conference rolling out his plan to slash $5.8 trillion from current spending levels over ten years, Pelosi slammed the budget, keying in on its drastic Medicare and Medicaid reforms. The #GOP Ryan budget is a path to poverty for America's seniors & children and a road to riches for big oil #GOPvalues #GOP Path to Poverty budget eliminates guaranteed benefits...

I wanted to make a screenshot of this, to post as a JPEG, but with the new Firefox, I can't find a suitable add-on. This is must see stuff. Rarely does a PDF merit 'breaking news' but I believe this is incredibly important to see. What a REAL Conservative Budget Looks Like (.pdf)