Ryan Urges ‘United Front’

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National Review:


Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the Budget Committee chairman, tells National Review Online that as the debt-limit negotiations continue, House Republicans should present Democrats with a “unified front,” pushing for spending cuts, instead of pledging to block an extension under any circumstances, which would “weaken our hand.”

“No one is interested in default,” Ryan says, when asked about Republicans, such as Rep. Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.), who have firmly opposed raising the debt ceiling — the party’s “no” caucus. “But look, when someone says they are not interested in participating in this process, it does lower the strength of our majority to get spending cuts.”


“The debt limit is an opportunity to cut spending,” Ryan says. “There is no budget process, since the Senate is not going to do a budget.” Any bloc that fails to recognize this, he says, “weakens our ability to present a unified front and get more spending cuts.”

Last Friday, Ryan reiterated this message to his colleagues at a closed-door conference meeting. “I always talk about how we have to see the forest through the trees, and I reminded them not to forget about the forest,” he says. “We cannot have irrational expectations when we control one-half of one-third of the government.”

Ryan is hopeful that Republicans this week will be able to pass “Cut, Cap, and Balance,” a legislative package sponsored by the Republican Study Committee. “It mirrors our budget framework,” he says. “It also puts down the marker, showing the other side where we stand.”

But numerous GOP aides tell NRO that “Cut, Cap, and Balance” faces long odds in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Ryan acknowledges that buzz, but says little about the GOP strategy should it stall. “No one has hit the panic button,” he says. “There remains a strong appetite for cuts. [House Republicans] have already voted for $6 trillion in cuts, so folks are more worried about them being too small than too big.”

Beyond the details of any potential deal, Ryan says that he is very frustrated with how President Obama has handled the negotiations, especially in how he has painted Republicans as intransigent. Recent presidential press conferences, Ryan says, have notably soured the White House’s relationship with the House GOP, perhaps to the point of no return. Such a development, he sighs, is unfortunate for the country, which wants the president to work with Congress.

Ryan, who was elected to Congress in 1998, says Obama is a stark contrast to former president Bill Clinton, who often disagreed with House Republicans but for the most part respectfully engaged with lawmakers. Obama, he says, could learn a couple of things from Clinton, who knew how to negotiate in a divided government. “I was pretty new when Clinton was president,” Ryan says. “But I learned then that presidents serve themselves well when they say the same thing in public as they do in private, dealing with congressional leaders earnestly and honestly.”