RHETORIC: Rep. Paul Ryan: “All That Stands Between Us Today And
Abundance Tomorrow Is The Burden Of Public Debt.” Rep. Paul Ryan:
“All that stands between us today and abundance tomorrow is the burden
of public debt. The government's appetite to spend, and the
bureaucrats' passion to regulate. We can lift that burden, and here is
what we need to do now that we're in the second half. We owe it to the
country to give them a choice of two futures. We owe it to the country
to let them choose in 2012, not let the bureaucracy make it happen
automatically. Here is what I see 2012 as being all about. And our job
as conservatives in the house is to make sure 2011 goes right to 2012
goes well.
” [Rep. Paul
Ryan CPAC Speech, 2/10/11]
REALITY: RYAN’S
“AMERICAN ROAD MAP” BUDGET PLAN WOULD WORSEN THE DEFICIT
CBPP: Under Ryan’s
Budget “Roadmap,” The Budget Deficit Would Reach About 7% Of GDP And
Debt Would Grow To 90% Of GDP By 2020. “Using TPC’s new revenue
estimates, we estimate that the budget deficit under the Ryan plan
would reach about 7 percent of GDP and the debt would grow to 90
percent of GDP by 2020. TPC estimates that revenues under the Ryan plan
would average 16.3 percent of GDP over the period from 2011 through
2020.” [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 7/7/10]
CBPP Budget Expert:
Ryan’s Budget “Roadmap” Might Not Even Eliminate Deficits. “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.’ I haven't seen them explain why they
think the tax proposals he includes in the Roadmap would result in [the
revenues they project] when it looks like it would be considerably less
than that,’ Horney told me today.” [TPM, 2/10/10]
REALITY: RYAN VOTED FOR THE BUSH BUDGETS THAT ADDED $5 TRILLION TO
THE NATIONAL DEBT
Ryan Voted For All 5 Bush Budgets Adding Up To $12.15 Trillion In
Spending. Rep. Paul Ryan supported all five of the Bush budgets
that the House voted on from 2001 to 2006. Ryan voted for the FY 2002,
FY 2004, FY 2005, FY 2006 and FY 2007 budgets. The budgets added up to
$12.15 Trillion in spending. 2001: H. Con. Res. 83: $1.95
Trillion. 2003: H Con Res 95: $2.27 Trillion. 2004: H
Con Res 95: $2.45 Trillion. 2005: H.Con.Res. 95: $2.6 Trillion. 2006:
H.Con.Res. 376 $2.8 Trillion. [2001 House Vote #104,
5/9/01;
2003 House Vote #141,
4/11/03;
2004 House Vote #198,
5/19/04;
2005 House Vote #149,
4/28/05;
2006 House Vote #158,
5/18/06]
President Bush Overall Added $5 Trillion
To The National Debt, Doubling It. According to the Treasury Department, total
public debt outstanding was $5.7 trillion when President Bush took
office, and it was $10.7 trillion when Mr. Bush left office.
Prior to the height of the financial crisis, since which time the
government has assumed much greater obligations and liabilities, the
public debt was still at $9.6 trillion. [U.S Department of Treasury,
Bureau of Public Debt, Public Debt 2001-2008; Politifact.com, St.
Petersburg Times, “Truth-O-Meter,” 1/18/09]