rYantag

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recover 814

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lcv 2013 4%/lifetime 13%

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came to dc right out of college to be staffer, elected at 28 tho plays outsider this town 320

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school lunches dangerous

<a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/03/paul-ryan-free-lunches-make-kids-soulless.html?imw=Y&f=most-viewed-24h10">http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/03/paul-ryan-free-lunches-make-kids-soulless.html?imw=Y&f=most-viewed-24h10</a>

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http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/senator-caterpillar-avoided-billions-taxes-23132918

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http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan

Paul D. Ryan, Jr. (born January 29, 1970) has been a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_Party" title="Republican Party" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Republican</a> member of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/United_States_House_of_Representatives" title="United States House of Representatives" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">United States House of Representatives</a> since 1999, representing the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/wi01_109.gif" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">First Congressional District</a> of Southeastern <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Members_of_the_U.S._Congress_from_Wisconsin" title="Category:Members of the U.S. Congress from Wisconsin" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Wisconsin</a>. He is currently the chairman of the House Budget Committee, and is best known for his 2011, 2012 "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Path_to_Prosperity" title="Path to Prosperity" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Path to Prosperity</a>" budget blueprints and his 2010 deficit reduction plan <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Roadmap_for_America%27s_Future" title="Roadmap for America's Future" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Roadmap for America's Future</a>. Republican Presidential candidate, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mitt_Romney" title="Mitt Romney" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Mitt Romney</a> announced on August 11, 2012 that he had chosen Ryan as his running-mate at a rally in front of the USS Wisconsin battleship in Norfolk, Virginia.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-1" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[1]</a> Ryan lost his V.P. bid in 2012 but retained his congressional seat against challenger, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Rob_Zerban" title="Rob Zerban" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Rob Zerban</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-2" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[2]</a>

Rep. Ryan is the primary author of the "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Path_to_Prosperity" title="Path to Prosperity" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Path to Prosperity</a>" blueprint embodied in the the FY 2013 House Budget Resolution, also known as the "Ryan budget." The Ryan budget passed the House on April 15, 2011 by a vote of 235-193.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-3" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[3]</a> A motion to proceed to debate in the Senate on May 25, 2011 failed by a 40-57 margin, with five Republicans voting no<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-4" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[4]</a>. The Ryan budget would slash the top tax rate for corporations and individuals from 35% to 25%, while implementing massive cuts in social safety net program spending. It would repeal Obamacare, cut Medicaid, transform Medicare into a voucher system, cut student loans, end the Earned Income Tax Credit program for the poor, and reverse Wall Street financial reforms covering "too big to fail" financial institutions. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-5" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[5]</a> President Barack Obama offered an alternative deficit reduction plan and a comparison of the two programs can be found <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/14/us-usa-budget-proposals-idUSTRE73D61N20110414" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">here</a>.

Rep. Ryan was chosen to give the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday, January 25, 2011. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-6" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[6]</a>

Rep. Ryan was a vocal supporter of the 2008 <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wall_Street_bailout" title="Wall Street bailout" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Wall Street bailout</a> and convinced fellow Republicans to vote for the bill. His impassioned speech in support of the $800 billion plan earned him a place in Michael Moore's documentary Capitalism: A Love Story. While the Tea Party arose, in part, as an angry response to the expensive bailout, Rep. Ryan has positioned himself as a defender of the movement's calls for fiscal responsibility.

See also <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Roadmap_for_America%27s_Future" title="Roadmap for America's Future" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Roadmap for America's Future</a>.

<h2 style=" background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; font-size: 12px; display: inline;">Contents</h2>

[<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#" class="internal" id="togglelink" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">hide</a>] </div>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Reinhart-Rogoff_Error_Explodes_Empirical_Evidence_for_Austerity" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">1 Reinhart-Rogoff Error Explodes Empirical Evidence for Austerity</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Study_Used_to_Justify_Harmful_Cuts_and_High_Unemployment" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">1.1 Study Used to Justify Harmful Cuts and High Unemployment</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Ties_To_Pete_Peterson" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">1.2 Ties To Pete Peterson</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Economists_Continue_to_Make_Errors_Defending_Themselves" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">1.3 Economists Continue to Make Errors Defending Themselves</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#On_the_Campaign_Trail_for_Romney.2FRyan_2012" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2 On the Campaign Trail for Romney/Ryan 2012</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Romney.2FRyan_Lose_2012_Bid_for_the_Presidency" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.1 Romney/Ryan Lose 2012 Bid for the Presidency</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Ryan_Loses_His_State.2C_County.2C_City_and_Ward_in_2012_Presidential_Election" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.2 Ryan Loses His State, County, City and Ward in 2012 Presidential Election</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Ryan_Wins_Congressional_Seat_in_2012.2C_But_Suffers_14.25_Slide" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.3 Ryan Wins Congressional Seat in 2012, But Suffers 14% Slide</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Ryan.27s_PAC_Donated_to_Richard_Mourdock" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.4 Ryan's PAC Donated to Richard Mourdock</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Ryan_Criticized_for_Photo-Op_at_Soup_Kitchen" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.5 Ryan Criticized for Photo-Op at Soup Kitchen</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Ryan_Dodges_Fox_News_Questions_on_the_Cost_of_the_Romney_Tax_Plan" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.6 Ryan Dodges Fox News Questions on the Cost of the Romney Tax Plan</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-12" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Ryan:_60_percent_are_Takers_not_Makers" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.7 Ryan: 60 percent are Takers not Makers</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Ryan_Requested_ACA_Funds" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.8 Ryan Requested ACA Funds</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#No_Ryan_Bounce" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.9 No Ryan Bounce</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-15" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Stimulus_Money" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.10 Stimulus Money</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-16" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Rep.Todd_Akin.27s.E2.80.9CLegitimate_Rape.E2.80.9D_Controversy_and_Ryan.E2.80.99s_Record" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.11 Rep. Todd Akin's “Legitimate Rape” Controversy and Ryan’s Record</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-17" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Ryan_Blames_Obama_for_GM_Plant_that_Closed_Under_Bush" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.12 Ryan Blames Obama for GM Plant that Closed Under Bush</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-18" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Ryan_and_Romney_.E2.80.9CHaven.E2.80.99t_Run_the_Numbers.E2.80.9D_on_Their_Budget" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.13 Ryan and Romney “Haven’t Run the Numbers” on Their Budget</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-19" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Fundraiser_with_Sheldon_Adelson" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.14 Fundraiser with Sheldon Adelson</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-20" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#RNC_Convention:_Controversy_Surrounds_Ryan.27s_Speech" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.15 RNC Convention: Controversy Surrounds Ryan's Speech</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-21" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Blaming_Obama_for_GM_Plant_Closing" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.16 Blaming Obama for GM Plant Closing</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-22" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#The_US_Credit_Rate_Downgrade" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.17 The US Credit Rate Downgrade</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-23" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Medicare_Costsavings" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.18 Medicare Costsavings</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-24" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Simpson_Bowles_Commission" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.19 Simpson Bowles Commission</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-25" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Strong_to_Protect_the_Weak" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2.20 Strong to Protect the Weak</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-26" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Rep.Ryan.27s.22Path_to_Prosperity.22_Budget_Proposal" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">3 Rep. Ryan's "Path to Prosperity" Budget Proposal</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-27" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#.22Path.22_Assumes_Incredible_Growth_and_Focuses_Only_on_Spending.2C_Not_Raising_Taxes_to_Increase_Revenue" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">3.1 "Path" Assumes Incredible Growth and Focuses Only on Spending, Not Raising Taxes to Increase Revenue</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-28" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Ryan_Cites_Flawed_Analysis_by_the_Heritage_Foundation" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">3.2 Ryan Cites Flawed Analysis by the Heritage Foundation</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-29" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Medicaid_Reforms" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">3.3 Medicaid Reforms</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-30" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Food_Stamps" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">3.4 Food Stamps</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-31" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Medicare_Slowly_Eliminated" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">3.5 Medicare Slowly Eliminated</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-32" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Ambiguous_Cuts_to_Non-Discretionary_Spending" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">3.6 Ambiguous Cuts to Non-Discretionary Spending</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-33" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Religious_Groups_Criticize_Ryan.27s_Budget" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">3.7 Religious Groups Criticize Ryan's Budget</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-34" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Other_Criticisms_of_the_.22Path_to_Prosperity.22" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">3.8 Other Criticisms of the "Path to Prosperity"</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-35" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#House_Votes_on_.22Path_to_Prosperity.22" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">3.9 House Votes on "Path to Prosperity"</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-36" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Roadmap_For_America.27s_Future" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">4 Roadmap For America's Future</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-37" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Rep._Ryan_and_the_Koch_Brothers" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">5 Rep. Ryan and the Koch Brothers</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-39" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Congressional_Record" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7 Congressional Record</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-40" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Ryan_Voted_for_Obama.27s_.27Fiscal_Cliff.27_Plan" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7.1 Ryan Voted for Obama's 'Fiscal Cliff' Plan</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-41" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#2_Bills_Passed_in_14_Years" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7.2 2 Bills Passed in 14 Years</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-42" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Social_Security_Privatization" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7.3 Social Security Privatization</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-43" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#2008_Wall_Street_Bailout" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7.4 2008 Wall Street Bailout</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-44" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Health_Care_Votes" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7.5 Health Care Votes</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-45" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#War_Votes" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7.6 War Votes</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-46" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Offshoring_of_U.S._Jobs" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7.7 Offshoring of U.S. Jobs</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-47" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Unions" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7.8 Unions</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-48" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Support_for_the_Patriot_Act" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7.9 Support for the Patriot Act</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-49" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Abortion" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7.10 Abortion</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-50" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Taxes_On_The_Rich" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7.11 Taxes On The Rich</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-51" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Insurance_Industry_Regulation" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7.12 Insurance Industry Regulation</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-52" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Other_Issues" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">8 Other Issues</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-53" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Rep._Ryan_and_his_Constituents" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">8.1 Rep. Ryan and his Constituents</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-55" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Views_on_Progressivism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">8.3 Views on Progressivism</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-56" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#2012_Congressional_Race" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">8.4 2012 Congressional Race</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-57" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Controversies" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">9 Controversies</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-58" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Campaign_Donation_Controversies" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">9.1 Campaign Donation Controversies</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-59" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#.22Lie_of_the_Year.22_Controversy" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">9.2 "Lie of the Year" Controversy</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-60" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#House_Budget_Committee" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">10 House Budget Committee</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-61" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#January_2011_House_Budget_Rules" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">10.1 January 2011 House Budget Rules</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-62" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Finances" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">11 Finances</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-63" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Personal_Finances" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">11.1 Personal Finances</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-64" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Rep._Ryan.E2.80.99s_Statements_of_Economic_Interest:" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">11.2 Rep. Ryan’s Statements of Economic Interest:</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-65" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Funding" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">12 Funding</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-66" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Campaign_Finances" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">12.1 Campaign Finances</a>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-67" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Top_20_Career_Contributors.5B140.5D" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">12.1.1 Top 20 Career Contributors[140]</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-68" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Top_Contributors_by_Industry.28as_of_January_2011.29.5B94.5D" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">12.1.2 Top Contributors by Industry (as of January 2011) [94]</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-69" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Top_Individual_Contributors.28as_of_January_2011.29.5B94.5D" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">12.1.3 Top Individual Contributors (as of January 2011) [94]</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-71" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Background" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">13.1 Background</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-72" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Congressional_Career" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">13.2 Congressional Career</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-73" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Boards_and_other_Affiliations" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">13.3 Boards and other Affiliations</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-74" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Contact" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">14 Contact</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-75" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Campaign_Contact_Information" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">14.1 Campaign Contact Information</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-76" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Articles_and_resources" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">15 Articles and resources</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-77" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Sources" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">15.1 Sources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-78" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#External_resources" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">15.2 External resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-79" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#Local_blogs_and_discussion_sites" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">15.3 Local blogs and discussion sites</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</div>

<h2 style=" background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Reinhart-Rogoff Error Explodes Empirical Evidence for Austerity</h2>

In 2010, Harvard economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff released <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w15639.pdf" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAQAAAAnOwc2AAAATklEQVR4XmXKQQqAMAwF0X/7XsSz9CSKiyIIFRFcjMmihmiGbB5fqDCaQJ4j46pzYLUWe+cXZ6OVBhTS0srY2Njp/+XxXXZOLu6EUWAOPX1vnwTBe6qQAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">a study</a> (“Growth in a Time of Debt”) that presented empirical evidence from 44 nations over a 200 year time span to demonstrate that countries with a public debt over 90 percent of GDP have much lower average growth rates than other nations. The study has been cited by Ryan and many other politicians to justify their continued push for cuts during an economic downturn.

When a team of economists at UMass Amherst got a hold of the data used by Reinhart and Rogoff, they uncovered numerous errors. In 2013, they released their own report which found that "coding errors, selective exclusion of available data, and unconventional weighting of summary statistics lead to serious errors that inaccurately represent the relationship between public debt and GDP growth." Adjusting for these errors, the Amherst team contends that "the average real GDP growth rate for countries carrying a public debt-to-GDP ratio of over 90 percent is actually 2.2 percent, not -0.1 percent." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-PeriUmass-7" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[7]</a>

Time and time again, economists tried to replicate the Reinhart-Rogoff results, but to no avail. Now, Thomas Herndon, Michael Ash, and Robert Pollin at UMass Amherst <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.peri.umass.edu/236/hash/31e2ff374b6377b2ddec04deaa6388b1/publication/566/" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">show us why</a>. One mistake, admitted by the authors and gaining the most attention, is an Excel spreadsheet error. Check out the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nextnewdeal.net/rortybomb/researchers-finally-replicated-reinhart-rogoff-and-there-are-serious-problems" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">screen shot of the year</a>. As the authors put it: "A coding error in the RR working spreadsheet entirely excludes five countries, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, and Denmark, from the analysis. [Reinhart-Rogoff] averaged cells in lines 30 to 44 instead of lines 30 to 49... This spreadsheet error... is responsible for a -0.3 percentage-point error in RR's published average real GDP growth in the highest public debt/GDP category." Belgium, in particular, has 26 years with debt-to-GDP above 90 percent, with an average growth rate of 2.6 percent (though this is only counted as one total point due to the weighting above). <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-PeriUmass-7" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[7]</a>

Mother Jones dubbed it "the Excel Error Heard Round the World.” But there are multiple errors in the study detailed <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nextnewdeal.net/rortybomb/researchers-finally-replicated-reinhart-rogoff-and-there-are-serious-problems" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">here</a> by financial writer Mike Konczal of the Roosevelt Institute. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-8" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[8]</a>

<h4 style=" background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Study Used to Justify Harmful Cuts and High Unemployment</h4>

It is hard to understate the importance of the flawed Reinhart-Rogoff study. It has been <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.reinhartandrogoff.com/related-research/growth-in-a-time-of-debt-featured-in" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">cited</a> around the globe by academics, politicians, and the mainstream media. In the United States, it is one of Paul Ryan's favorite justifications for his draconian <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/173920/paul-ryans-austerity-agenda-relies-bad-math-coding-errors-and-significant-mistake" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Path to Prosperity budget</a>, for GOP rejection of further stimulus, and the Fix the Debt crowd's frenzied calls for urgent action. Simpson-Bowles, Pete Peterson and "Fix the Debt" have all cited this study to justify harmful cuts and a stalemate on stimulus currently condemning millions to mass unemployment.

<h4 style=" background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Ties To Pete Peterson</h4>

The economists both have ties to Wall Street billionaire <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Peterson" title="Pete Peterson" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Pete Peterson</a>. As the Center for Media and Democracy detailed in the online report, "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=The_Peterson_Pyramid&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="The Peterson Pyramid (page does not exist)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The Peterson Pyramid</a>," the Blackstone billionaire turned philanthropist has spent half a billion dollars to promote this chorus of calamity. Through the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Peterson has funded practically every think tank and non-profit that works on deficit- and debt-related issues, including his latest 2012 astroturf supergroup, "Fix the Debt.” Reinhart, described glowingly by the New York Times as "the most influential female economist in the world," was a Senior Fellow at the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iie.com%2Fstaff%2Fauthor_bio.cfm%3Fauthor_id%3D86&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHSTM_yK62gJP7x2mLnk25cJsjZqg" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Peterson Institute for International Economics</a> founded, chaired, and<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.pgpf.org/Issues/Grants/2010/12/16/_/link.aspx?_{id=11E303D17D4444B0BC413A5E7211B658&}_z=z" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">funded</a> by Peterson. Reinhart is listed as participating in many Peterson Institute events, such as their <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.pgpf.org/Issues/Fiscal-Outlook/2012/05/050812-Fiscal-Summit-Media-Advisory.aspx" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">2012 fiscal summit</a> along with Paul Ryan, Alan Simpson, and Tim Geithner, and numerous other Peterson lectures and events available on <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkcqBucVgSc" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">YouTube</a>. She is married to economist and author Vincent Reinhart, who does similar work for the American Enterprise Institute, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.pgpf.org/Issues/Grants/2010/12/16/Grants-American-Enterprise-Institute.aspx" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">also funded by the Peterson Foundation</a>. Kenneth Rogoff is listed on the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.piie.com/institute/advisory.cfm" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Advisory Board</a>of the Peterson Institute. The Peterson Institute bankrolled <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.piie.com/publications/chapters_preview/6222/01iie6222.pdf" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAQAAAAnOwc2AAAATklEQVR4XmXKQQqAMAwF0X/7XsSz9CSKiyIIFRFcjMmihmiGbB5fqDCaQJ4j46pzYLUWe+cXZ6OVBhTS0srY2Njp/+XxXXZOLu6EUWAOPX1vnwTBe6qQAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">and published</a> a 2011 Rogoff-Reinhart book-length collaboration, "A Decade of Debt," where the authors apparently used the same flawed data to reach many of the same conclusions and warn ominously of a "debt burden" stretching into 2017 that "will weigh heavily on the public policy agenda of numerous advanced economies and global financial markets for some time to come." (Note that not everyone associated with the Institute touts the Peterson party line.)

<h4 style=" background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Economists Continue to Make Errors Defending Themselves...</h4>

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<h4 style=" background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Ryan Blames Obama for GM Plant that Closed Under Bush</h4>

At a campaign stop in August 2012, Rep. Ryan criticized President Obama, blaming him for the closing of the GM plant in Rep. Ryan's hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin. "I remember President Obama visiting it when he was first running, saying he'll keep that plant open... One of the reasons that plant got shut down was $4 gasoline. You see, this costs jobs. The president's terrible energy policies are costing us jobs." He referred to it as "one more broken promise" from the Obama administration.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-31" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[31]</a> Rep. Ryan's statements have been criticized after it was pointed out that the GM plant actually closed during President George W. Bush's last year in office.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-32" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[32]</a>

<h4 style=" background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Ryan and Romney “Haven’t Run the Numbers” on Their Budget</h4>

In his first one-on-one interview after being chosen as Romney’s running mate, Rep. Ryan sat down with Fox News’ Birt Hume. “Asked by Hume when the Romney plan would balance the budget, Ryan said he didn't know because ‘we haven't run the numbers on that specific plan.’”<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-33" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[33]</a>

This admission contrasts with Ryan’s image as a policy wonk who rose to prominence after introducing his own budget, which became the Republican’s alternative to President Obama’s budget.

<h4 style=" background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Fundraiser with Sheldon Adelson</h4>

Rep. Ryan held a fundraiser in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 14, 2012 with billionaire casino mogul <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sheldon_Adelson" title="Sheldon Adelson" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Sheldon Adelson</a>. The press was not allowed to cover the event, and the Romney/Ryan campaign justified this decision by calling the event a “finance event” rather than a fundraiser.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-34" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[34]</a> Adelson has committed to spending $100 million to defeat President Obama in the lead up to the November 2012 election.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-mogul-35" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[35]</a> Adelson has also been under scrutiny lately when his casino empire became “the subject of a federal investigation into whether his company, Las Vegas Sands, bribed Chinese officials to help him expand into the mainland.”<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-mogul-35" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[35]</a>

This meeting with Adelson and other G.O.P. donors highlights the fact that Rep. Ryan is expected to help boost fundraising. The Romney/Ryan campaign said that within 24 hours of the announcement of Rep. Ryan being picked as Romney’s running mate, they raised $3.5 million.

<h4 style=" background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">RNC Convention: Controversy Surrounds Ryan's Speech</h4>

Paul Ryan gave a keynote speech to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida on August 29, 2012. Numerous assertions Ryan made in his speech have come under scrutiny. A contributor to Fox News wrote an article deeply critical of Ryan's speech, saying "Ryan’s speech was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-fox-36" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[36]</a>

...

food stamp cut

Ryan's "Path" would phase- out traditional pay-for-service Medicare, the government program providing health insurance coverage to persons 65 and older, and replace it with government subsidies for the elderly to obtain healthcare through private insurers. According to Ryan, "this is not a voucher program but rather a premium-support model." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-Ryan_WSJ_op-ed-60" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[60]</a> The plan would be phased-in and only take effect for persons currently under age 55.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that seniors will be paying on average 68% of their health care costs by 2030, more than twice as much than under current law.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-Krugman_unicorns-51" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[51]</a> The economist Dean Baker points out seniors would end up spending most of their income on healthcare. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-61" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[61]</a>

In his Wall Street Journal op-ed announcing the plan, Ryan writes: "starting in 2022, new Medicare beneficiaries will be enrolled in the same kind of health-care program that members of Congress enjoy. Future Medicare recipients will be able to choose a plan that works best for them from a list of guaranteed coverage options."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-Ryan_WSJ_op-ed-60" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[60]</a>

Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) points out that this is an unfair comparison: members of Congress are only expected to pay 28% of their health care costs, in contrast to the 68% seniors will be paying under Ryan's "Path." What's more, with seniors' medical costs being even higher than the broader population, and the amount of the voucher fixed and not based on healthcare costs, the difference is even more striking. He writes: "when the plan takes effect in 2022, the average senior would receive $8,000 to buy insurance. Plans for Members of Congress cost $9,012 in 2010. What kind of health care plan will $8,000 buy in 2022 for our sickest and oldest seniors, when $9,000 can't buy a plan for a Member of Congress today?"<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-62" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[62]</a>

With healthcare costs rising, the Medicare reforms have been criticized by Democrats such as Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md, who says "all the risk of increased costs will be borne by seniors." He says "they're ending Medicare as we know it. They take away the Medicare guarantee for seniors." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-63" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[63]</a>

Ryan has claimed the "Path's" Medicare proposal resembles the one he developed with <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Alice_Rivlin" title="Alice Rivlin" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Alice Rivlin</a>, Brookings scholar and former advisor to President Bill Clinton, but Rivlin has said she does not support Ryan's plan. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-64" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[64]</a> Rivlin says she does not want to eliminate Medicare entirely, and would increase the value of the vouchers at GDP+1 (inflation plus productivity growth (which is what GDP represents) plus one additional percentage point). She also states that she supports upholding the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Affordable_Care_Act&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Affordable Care Act (page does not exist)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Affordable Care Act</a> ("Obamacare"), particularly in regards to its promotion of research and pilot programs aimed at reducing healthcare costs. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-65" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[65]</a>

...

<h2 style=" background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Rep. Ryan and the Koch Brothers</h2>

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_Industries" title="Koch Industries" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Koch Industries</a> has been one of Ryan's top contributors throughout his career<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-77" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[77]</a>. The company's PAC and employees have given him $65,000 in donations during his Congressional career. This makes Koch Ryan's biggest energy-related donor.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-78" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[78]</a>

The Koch's political arm Americans for Prosperity (AFP) has also embraced Ryan. Ryan has made dozens of appearances at AFP events and rallies in Wisconsin and in Washington, DC. In 2008, he was granted the Wisconsin AFP chapter's "Defending the American Dream" award<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-79" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[79]</a>, handed to him by then County Executive Scott Walker. AFP touted their ties to Ryan while applauding his ascent into the limelight as Mitt Romney's VP pick: "We have been proud to work with him on restoring economic freedom to our nation."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-80" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[80]</a>

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<h4 style=" background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">2008 Wall Street Bailout</h4>

Rep. Ryan was a major supporter of President George W. Bush's $800 billion <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wall_Street_bailout" title="Wall Street bailout" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Wall Street bailout</a>, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Division A of Pub.L. 110-343). Ryan rallied Republican votes for the bill, managing to overcome the instincts of many fiscal conservatives.

Ryan's impassioned speech in support of the bailout ("If we fail to do the right thing, heaven help us - if we fail to pass this I fear the worst is yet to come") earned him a featured spot in Michael Moore's film Capitalism: A Love Story. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-91" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[91]</a>

John Nichols writes: "There was nothing fiscally responsible -- let alone necessary -- about the bailout. Indeed, it was such a bad deal that it spawned a popular revolt that gave rise to the tea party movement. Now Ryan positions himself as the champion of the tea party's call for debt relief." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-92" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[92]</a>

Ryan voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"), and also voted in favor of repealing the bill, despite the independent, non-partisan Congressional Budget Office declaring that repeal will add $230 Billion more to the deficit. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-93" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[93]</a>

Rep. Ryan has accepted over $660,000 in contributions from the insurance industry and over $1 million from the healthcare industry (Health Professionals $431,013, Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $230,592, Hospitals/Nursing Homes $180,477, Health Services/HMOs $161,392). <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-open_secrets-94" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[94]</a>

On October 10, 2002 Rep. Ryan voted for the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:H.J.Res114:" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); padding-right: 13px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002</a>, also known as the Iraq War Resolution.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-95" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[95]</a> The bill authorized military action in Iraq. Rep. Ryan went on to "ratif[y] every troop escalation and every supplemental appropriation" for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even though the war is a major contributor to the U.S. deficit.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-war-96" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[96]</a>

Carl Cameron a Fox News reporter, asked Rep. Ryan how he would respond to critics who question his weak national security resume. Rep. Ryan responded by citing his support of the Iraq War. He said "I've been in Congress for a number of years... That's more experience than Barack Obama had when he came into office." He went on to say "I voted to send people to war."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-war-96" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[96]</a>

<h4 style=" background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Offshoring of U.S. Jobs</h4>

Rep. Ryan voted to allow "permanent normal trading relations with China" in 2000, the most significant trade vote of the decade. Since establishing free trade with China between 2001 and 2010, 2.8 million U.S. jobs were lost or displaced according to the Alliance for American Manufacturing.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-97" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[97]</a> Rep. Ryan voted for H.R. 4444, To Authorize Extension of Nondiscriminatory Treatment (Normal Trade Relations Treatment) to the People’s Republic of China, on May 24, 2000.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-98" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[98]</a>

Ryan was not in Congress to vote on NAFTA, but he voted for an expansion of NAFTA called the Central American Free Trade Agreement CAFTA in 2005. (Roll Call 443, H 3045, 07/28/2005)<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-99" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[99]</a> He also voted for the South Korea, Panama, and Colombia Free Trade Agreements. (H.R. 3080, Vote 24, 10/12/11<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-100" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[100]</a>; H.R. 3079, Vote 23, 10/12/11<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-101" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[101]</a>; H.R. 3078, Vote 22, 10/12/11<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-102" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[102]</a>)

Ryan opposed the Employee Free Choice Act in Congress, which would make it easier for workers to form a union (Roll Call 118, H 800, 03/01/2007)<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-103" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[103]</a>; and voted for a two month waiting period for a unionization vote after a petition is filed to allow for management intimidation. (Roll Call 869, H 3094, 11/30/2011)<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-104" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[104]</a>

<h4 style=" background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Support for the Patriot Act</h4>

Rep. Ryan voted for the 2001 USA Patriot Act.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-105" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[105]</a> Ryan also voted to re-authorize the USA Patriot Act in 2006.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-106" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[106]</a>

...

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Scott_Walker" title="Scott Walker" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Scott Walker</a>, the Governor of Wisconsin, said at a rally in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin that "If there was a Paul Ryan fan club, I'd be president."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-116" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[116]</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dick_Cheney" title="Dick Cheney" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Dick Cheney</a> said in an interview: "I worship the ground that Paul Ryan walks on. I think he's an enormously talented individual and he deserves all the support we can provide him. I hope he doesn't run for President because that would ruin a good man."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-117" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[117]</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Glenn_Beck" title="Glenn Beck" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Glenn Beck</a> said to Rep. Ryan in an interview "I love you." He went on to say, in response to Rep. Ryan's views on progressivism: "Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh... I don’t think I’ve ever heard anybody ‑‑ I need to find out more about you, Paul. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anybody...that is articulating the problem in this country and knows what the root is like you have." After Rep. Ryan ended the interview, Beck's producer jokes that "[if] you weren’t already married, I think you would have proposed to him... I think you would have proposed to him then. I saw the look in your eye."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-118" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[118]</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Grover_Norquist" title="Grover Norquist" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Grover Norquist</a> said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt,” that if elected Rep. Ryan would influence economic and tax policy in a way "similar" to the way Vice President Dick Cheney helped guide national security matters during George W. Bush’s administration.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-119" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[119]</a> Norquist said "I think that [Rep. Ryan] would certainly have a large footprint. I was actually publicly an advocate of not having Ryan be the vice presidential nominee, not because I don’t think Ryan’s key or important, but because I think he’s so key and important."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-120" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[120]</a></li>

</ul>

<h4 style=" background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Views on Progressivism</h4>

In 2010 Rep. Ryan did an interview with <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Glenn_Beck" title="Glenn Beck" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Glenn Beck</a> in which they talk about progressivism<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-121" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[121]</a>:

<dd style=" line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">Beck: It’s a cancer.</dd>

</dl>

<h3 style=" background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 17px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Campaign Finances</h3>

Rep. Ryan has never had a challenger of any stature or a race of any signficance, yet in 2012 he is a top fundraiser in Congress.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-138" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[138]</a> "About $3 out of every $4 raised by Ryan since 2009 has come from individuals and groups outside Wisconsin." "In the past 3½ years, the Janesville Republican has raised $8.3 million - almost exactly as much as he had collected in his first six campaigns."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-139" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[139]</a>

<h4 style=" background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Top 20 Career Contributors<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-140" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[140]</a></h4>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Northwestern Mutual ($89,300)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">National Beer Wholesalers Association ($75,000)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">National Auto Dealers Association ($68,500)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">National Association of Home Builders ($67,750)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Koch Industries ($65,500)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors ($65,000)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Abbott Laboratories ($61,700)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Blue Cross/Blue Shield ($58,150)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Carpenters & Joiners Union ($57,500)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Credit Suisse Group ($52,200)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Investment Company Institute ($51,999)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">American Bankers Association ($51,795)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Associated General Contractors ($51,200)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance ($51,200)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Pricewaterhouse Coopers ($50,943)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">National Association of Realtors ($49,560)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">United Parcel Service ($48,537)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Operating Engineers Union ($48,500)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Credit Union National Association ($44,050).</li>

</ul>

<h4 style=" background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Top Contributors by Industry (as of January 2011) <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-open_secrets-94" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[94]</a></h4>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Insurance $660,571</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Retired $644,246</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Securities & Investment $515,049</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Health Professionals $431,013</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Misc Manufacturing & Distributing $301,400</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Real Estate $272,434</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Commercial Banks $260,995</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Automotive $250,150</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Lawyers/Law Firms $248,716</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $230,592</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Accountants $201,602</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Leadership PACs $194,699</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Hospitals/Nursing Homes $180,477</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">General Contractors $175,400</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Misc Finance $174,339</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Health Services/HMOs $161,392</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Building Materials & Equipment $160,449</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Retail Sales $152,009</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Telephone Utilities $151,305</li>

</ul>

<h4 style=" background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Top Individual Contributors (as of January 2011) <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Ryan#cite_note-open_secrets-94" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[94]</a></h4>

(total reflects both individual and PAC contributions)

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Northwestern Mutual $70,300</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">National Beer Wholesalers Assn $70,000</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">National Auto Dealers Assn $63,500</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">National Assn of Home Builders $62,500</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Koch Industries $60,500</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Natl Assn/Insurance & Financial Advisors $60,000</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">American Bankers Assn $51,045</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Blue Cross/Blue Shield $48,650</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Carpenters & Joiners Union $47,500</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">United Parcel Service $47,443</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Abbott Laboratories $47,250</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Associated General Contractors $46,200</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Investment Co Institute $45,999</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">National Assn of Realtors $44,560</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Credit Suisse Group $44,200</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance $41,200</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">SC Johnson & Son $41,092</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">PricewaterhouseCoopers $38,693</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">American Hospital Assn $36,025</li>

</ul>

</div>

==

<a href="http://www.alternet.org/meet-paul-ryans-inner-city-expert-who-claims-blacks-and-latinos-have-lower-iqsmurray%20cited%20by%20paul%20ryan">http://www.alternet.org/meet-paul-ryans-inner-city-expert-who-claims-blacks-and-latinos-have-lower-iqs</a>

murray cited by paul ryan

<a id="Paul_Ryan" name="Paul_Ryan">Click here for </a><a href="javascript:pop('../2012/Paul_Ryan_Energy+Oil.htm');">26 full quotes by Paul Ryan</a> OR click here for <a href="http://www.ontheissues.org/Paul_Ryan.htm#Energy+Oil">Paul Ryan on other issues</a>.

<ul>

<li>Build new refineries; drill for our own oil. (Aug 2012)</li>

<li>Drill ANWR & use its $200B in revenue for alternative energy. (Aug 2012)</li>

<li>Support renewable portfolio standard for electric suppliers. (Aug 2012)</li>

<li>Cap-and-trade bureaucratically rations conventional energy. (Apr 2012)</li>

<li>Automaker bailout abused process to force new fuel standards. (Apr 2012)</li>

<li>Develop all American-made energy, including nuclear. (Apr 2012)</li>

<li>Voted YES on opening Outer Continental Shelf to oil drilling. (May 2011)</li>

<li>Voted YES on barring EPA from regulating greenhouse gases. (Apr 2011)</li>

<li>Voted NO on enforcing limits on CO2 global warming pollution. (Jun 2009)</li>

<li>Voted NO on tax credits for renewable electricity, with PAYGO offsets. (Sep 2008)</li>

<li>Voted NO on tax incentives for energy production and conservation. (May 2008)</li>

<li>Voted NO on tax incentives for renewable energy. (Feb 2008)</li>

<li>Voted NO on investing in homegrown biofuel. (Aug 2007)</li>

<li>Voted YES on criminalizing oil cartels like OPEC. (May 2007)</li>

<li>Voted NO on removing oil & gas exploration subsidies. (Jan 2007)</li>

<li>Voted NO on keeping moratorium on drilling for oil offshore. (Jun 2006)</li>

<li>Voted YES on scheduling permitting for new oil refinieries. (Jun 2006)</li>

<li>Voted YES on authorizing construction of new oil refineries. (Oct 2005)</li>

<li>Voted NO on passage of the Bush Administration national energy policy. (Jun 2004)</li>

<li>Voted NO on implementing Bush-Cheney national energy policy. (Nov 2003)</li>

<li>Voted NO on raising CAFE standards; incentives for alternative fuels. (Aug 2001)</li>

<li>Voted NO on prohibiting oil drilling & development in ANWR. (Aug 2001)</li>

<li>Voted NO on starting implementation of Kyoto Protocol. (Jun 2000)</li>

<li>Rated 0% by the <a href="http://www.ontheissues.org/Note-CAF.asp">CAF</a>, indicating opposition to energy independence. (Dec 2006)</li>

<li>Bar greenhouse gases from Clean Air Act rules. (Jan 2009)</li>

<li>Drill the Outer Continental Shelf; & license new nuke plants. (Mar 2011)</li>

</ul>

===

<h1 class="print-title">Pete Peterson Linked Economists Caught in Austerity Error</h1>

<div class="meta">by <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/users/35270/mary-bottari" title="View user profile.">Mary Bottari</a> [1] — April 18, 2013 - 11:59am</div>

<ul>

<li class="vocabulary-2">Topics: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/economy">Economy</a> [2]</li>

</ul>

</div>

<ul>

<li class="vocabulary-9">Projects: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/projects/real-economy-project">Real Economy Project</a> [3]</li>

</ul>

</div>

A team of economists at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at UMass Amherst broke a huge story this week that was promptly picked up by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, and newspapers around the globe. The economists proved that the essential underpinning "of the intellectual edifice of austerity economics," as Paul Krugman put it, is based on sloppy methodology and spreadsheet coding errors.

<h2>Reinhart-Rogoff Study Debunked</h2>

Three years ago, Harvard economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff released <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w15639.pdf" target="_blank">a study</a> [5] that presented empirical evidence from 44 nations over a 200 year time span to demonstrate that countries with a public debt over 90 percent of GDP (the United States is at about 100 percent, Japan at 200 percent) have average growth rates one percent lower than other nations.

Forty-four countries, 200 years, Harvard -- pretty convincing, huh?

Except it was wrong.

When the PERI team finally got a hold of the data used by Reinhart and Rogoff, they <a href="http://www.peri.umass.edu/236/hash/31e2ff374b6377b2ddec04deaa6388b1/publication/566/" target="_blank">uncovered gaping problems</a> [6]. They found that "coding errors, selective exclusion of available data, and unconventional weighting of summary statistics lead to serious errors that inaccurately represent the relationship between public debt and GDP growth." Adjusting for these errors, the Amherst team contends that "the average real GDP growth rate for countries carrying a public debt-to-GDP ratio of over 90 percent is actually 2.2 percent, not -0.1 percent."

It would all be a Massachusetts "Ivory Tower" kerfluffle if the Reinhart-Rogoff study were not cited by practically everyone in Washington, including Paul Ryan, Simpson-Bowles, and the entire "Fix the Debt" crowd, to justify harmful cuts and a stalemate on stimulus currently condemning millions to mass unemployment.

And it should come as no surprise that the economists have ties to Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson.

<h2>Study Used to Justify Harmful Cuts and High Unemployment</h2>

It is hard to understate the importance of the study. It has been <a href="http://www.reinhartandrogoff.com/related-research/growth-in-a-time-of-debt-featured-in" target="blank">cited</a> [7] around the globe by academics, politicians, and the mainstream media. In the U.S., it is one of Paul Ryan's favorite justifications for his draconian <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/173920/paul-ryans-austerity-agenda-relies-bad-math-coding-errors-and-significant-mistake" target="blank">Path to Prosperity</a> [8] budget, for GOP rejection of further stimulus, and the Fix the Debt crowd's frenzied calls for urgent action. President Obama is now on the austerity bandwagon, enacting numerous cuts and proposing new cuts to programs like Social Security in order to achieve a "Grand Bargain" on deficits. As a consequence, mass unemployment is a new normal.

In Europe, "R&R's work and its derivatives have been used to justify austerity policies that have pushed the unemployment rate over 10 percent for the euro zone as a whole and above 20 percent in Greece and Spain. In other words, this is a mistake that has had enormous consequences" for real people, says economist Dean Baker in a piece called <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/16/unemployment-reinhart-rogoff-arithmetic-cause" target="_blank">"How Much Unemployment Did Reinhart and Rogoff's Arithmetic Mistake Cause?"</a> [9]

Time and time again, economists tried to replicate the Reinhart-Rogoff results, but to no avail. Now, Thomas Herndon, Michael Ash, and Robert Pollin <a href="http://www.peri.umass.edu/236/hash/31e2ff374b6377b2ddec04deaa6388b1/publication/566/" target="blank">show us why</a> [6]. One mistake, admitted by the authors and gaining the most attention, is an Excel spreadsheet error. Check out the <a href="http://www.nextnewdeal.net/rortybomb/researchers-finally-replicated-reinhart-rogoff-and-there-are-serious-problems" target="blank">screen shot</a> [10] of the year.

As the authors put it: "A coding error in the RR working spreadsheet entirely excludes five countries, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, and Denmark, from the analysis. [Reinhart-Rogoff] averaged cells in lines 30 to 44 instead of lines 30 to 49... This spreadsheet error... is responsible for a -0.3 percentage-point error in RR's published average real GDP growth in the highest public debt/GDP category." Belgium, in particular, has 26 years with debt-to-GDP above 90 percent, with an average growth rate of 2.6 percent (though this is only counted as one total point due to the weighting above).

Mother Jones dubbed it "the Excel Error Heard Round the World."

<h2>Pete Peterson's Fingerprints</h2>

It will come as no surprise that Reinhart and Rogoff have ties to Wall Street billionaire <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Peter_Peterson" target="_blank">Pete Peterson,</a> [11] a big fan of their work. Peterson has been advocating cuts to Social Security and Medicare for decades in order to prevent a debt crisis he warns will spike interest rates and collapse the economy. (Peterson failed to warn of the actual crisis building on Wall Street during his time at the Blackstone Group.)

When Washington Post writer Suzy Khimm <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/18/pete-peterson-predicts-markets-will-panic-over-our-debt-crisis-sometime/" target="_blank">pointed out to Peterson</a> [12] that the U.S. built significant deficits during the financial crisis but maintained very low interest rates, Peterson responded that America still needed to be on high alert: "you know [Kenneth] Rogoff and [Carmen] Reinhart -- I've talked to them, and they say [debt crises] are sudden, they're sharp, they're very substantial. The risk is simply too big. At some point, if we lurch from crisis to crisis, then confidence will decline on our economy in general."

As the Center for Media and Democracy detailed in the online report, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Fix_the_Debt" target="blank">"The Peterson Pyramid,"</a> [13] the Blackstone billionaire turned philanthropist has spent half a billion dollars to promote this chorus of calamity. Through the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Peterson has funded practically every think tank and non-profit that works on deficit- and debt-related issues, including his latest astroturf supergroup, "Fix the Debt," <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/173022/stacking-deck-phony-fix-debt-campaign" target="blank">which has set a July 4, 2013 deadline for securing an austerity budget</a> [14].

Reinhart, described glowingly by the New York Times as "the most influential female economist in the world," was a Senior Fellow at the <a href="http://www.iie.com/staff/author_bio.cfm?author_id=86" target="blank">Peterson Institute for International Economics</a> [15] founded, chaired, and <a href="http://www.pgpf.org/Issues/Grants/2010/12/16/%7E/link.aspx?id=11E303D17D4444B0BC413A5E7211B658&z=z" target="blank">funded</a> [16] by Peterson. Reinhart is listed as participating in many Peterson Institute events, such as their <a href="http://www.pgpf.org/Issues/Fiscal-Outlook/2012/05/050812-Fiscal-Summit-Media-Advisory.aspx" target="blank">2012 fiscal summit</a> [17] along with Paul Ryan, Alan Simpson, and Tim Geithner, and numerous other Peterson lectures and events available on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkcqBucVgSc" target="blank">YouTube</a> [18]. She is married to economist and author Vincent Reinhart, who does similar work for the American Enterprise Institute, <a href="http://www.pgpf.org/Issues/Grants/2010/12/16/Grants-American-Enterprise-Institute.aspx" target="_blank">also funded by the Peterson Foundation</a> [19].

Kenneth Rogoff is listed on the <a href="http://www.piie.com/institute/advisory.cfm" target="blank">Advisory Board</a> [20] of the Peterson Institute. The Peterson Institute bankrolled <a href="http://www.piie.com/publications/chapters_preview/6222/01iie6222.pdf" target="blank">and published</a> [21] a 2011 Rogoff-Reinhart book-length collaboration, "A Decade of Debt," where the authors apparently used the same flawed data to reach many of the same conclusions and warn ominously of a "debt burden" stretching into 2017 that "will weigh heavily on the public policy agenda of numerous advanced economies and global financial markets for some time to come." (Note that not everyone associated with the Institute touts the Peterson party line.)

<h2>Bankrupt Analysis</h2>

The authors have issued two rebuttals to the Amherst study. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-gongloff/reinhart-rogoff-research-response_b_3099185.html" target="blank">In their latest</a> [22], they object that anyone would think they were "misconstruing analysis to support austerity" or a political agenda. Perhaps it had to do with pieces like this one entitled <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-14/too-much-debt-means-economy-can-t-grow-commentary-by-reinhart-and-rogoff.html" target="blank">"Too Much Debt and the Economy Can't Grow"</a> [23] that warns against further stimulus at a time when mass unemployment is wreaking devastation on the lives and livelihoods of workers young and old.

Economists like Herndon, Ash, Pollin, Baker, and Krugman have never bought the argument that economies can cut their way out of a crisis, and now data from the Reinhart-Rogoff study, from numerous European countries, <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDUQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fkrugman.blogs.nytimes.com%2F2013%2F03%2F10%2Fthe-imf-on-the-austerity-trap%2F&ei=OxJwUbyiL8bgyQHamIHgDQ&usg=AFQjCNH5HQ-UDI4MjmA8shPb63Z0vsfkYA&sig2=GdIqQECkRCKfbO-fz_LHBw&bvm=bv.45368065,d.aWc" target="blank">from the IMF</a> [24], and even from <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/04/12064/maciver-institute-ideologues-manage-turn-lemonade-lemons" target="blank">CMD's home state of Wisconsin (now ranked an astonishing 44th in job creation)</a> [25], support their contentions.

If only they had half a billion to spread the word.

<div class="print-footer">Center for Media and Democracy • 520 University Avenue, Suite 260 • Madison, Wisconsin 53703

Phone: 608-260-9713 • Fax: 608-260-9714</div>

==

On Wednesday, <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57507023-503544/ryan-backs-romney-on-wind-energy-tax-credit/">Paul Ryan echoed</a> Mitt Romney’s <a href="http://grist.org/news/romney-calls-for-an-end-to-key-wind-energy-credit/">opposition</a> to extending a tax credit for the wind industry:

We think these tax credits are important to get industries up and running, but we don’t think they should continue on indefinitely. … We also want to make sure our tax code isn’t one that has too many loopholes, which rewards some industries and not the others.

</blockquote>

Subsidies for the oil and gas industry <a href="http://cen.acs.org/articles/89/i51/Long-History-US-Energy-Subsidies.html">were instituted in the U.S. in 1918</a>. Those subsidies comprise <a href="http://www.awea.org/blog/images/110923-Subsidy-Graph-1.png">about two-thirds of all energy subsidies ever given</a>. Ryan has voted for the indefinite extension of oil industry subsidies on <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/04/28/162071/paul-ryan-oil-subsidies/">multiple</a> <a href="http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Paul_Ryan_Energy+Oil.htm">occasions</a>.

===

<h1 class="print-title">U.S.-Funded War in El Salvador Casts Shadow over Romney/Ryan Campaign</h1>

<div class="meta">by <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/users/35275/brendan-fischer" title="View user profile.">Brendan Fischer</a> [1] — August 16, 2012</div>

Amidst reports that Mitt Romney launched Bain Capital with funds from investors tied to 1980s Salvadoran death squads, his new running mate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is getting foreign policy briefings from a man who actively covered-up some of the worst atrocities committed by those same death squads. The GOP's vice-presidential candidate also earned his political stripes working under neoconservative Republicans who funneled billions in U.S. aid to those military hitmen. Though the war in El Salvador was just one chapter in history, Romney and Ryan's relationship with that war may provide a snapshot into their worldview.

Between 1979 and 1992, an estimated 75,000 people were killed in the conflict in El Salvador and countless others were "disappeared" or displaced, an astonishing number for a country the size of Massachusetts. A United Nations Truth Commission <a href="http://www.usip.org/publications/truth-commission-el-salvador" title="reference on estimated" target="_blank">estimated</a> [6] that the right-wing, military-led government was responsible for 85 percent of the violence while the left-wing insurgency fighting against vast economic and political inequality, including farmers, teachers, priests and union activists, was responsible for only 5 percent. Much of the violence was attributable to clandestine military or paramilitary death squads, which committed countless assassinations and acts of brutal violence against suspected political dissidents.

Recent reports suggest that some of the same members of the Salvadoran oligarchy that backed the death squads gave Romney the startup funds for Bain Capital.

<h2>Romney's Early Bain Capital Funders Tied to Salvadoran Death Squads</h2>

Photo from El Salvador's civil warLast week, the Huffington Post's Ryan Grim and Cole Stangler <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/mitt-romney-death-squads-bain_n_1710133.html" title="reference on reported" target="_blank">reported</a> [7] on how Romney went to Miami in 1983, at the height of El Salvador's civil war, to raise $9 million from Salvadoran expatriate families to start Bain Capital. This seed money amounted to 40 percent of Bain's startup funds. Although Romney claimed that he had vetted the backgrounds of the investors, some of their families had been identified by the U.S. ambassador and others as closely tied to either death squads or death squad leader and ARENA Party founder Roberto d'Aubuisson (known as "Blowtorch Bob" for his use of blowtorches to torture political prisoners).

Archbishop Oscar RomeroD'Aubuisson was later found responsible for ordering the assassination of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, a prominent advocate for the poor and critic of the Salvadoran government (who the Vatican has now placed in the process of canonization to become a saint). In the United States, though, the Reagan administration foreign policy team would actively deny d'Aubuisson's involvement in the assassination, as well as the Salvadoran government's involvement in other human rights atrocities, so as to justify a heavy flow of military aid to the country's government as part of Reagan's Cold War-era policy to suppress any chance of another Cuba emerging in Latin America. A key player in those official denials was Elliot Abrams, an Assistant Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan who still boasts that he <a href="http://www.speakersaccess.com/elliott-abrams" title="reference on " target="_blank">"supervised U.S. policy in Latin America and the Caribbean."</a> [8]

In recent months, Abrams has been advising Romney's Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan on foreign policy.

<h2>Abrams Key Denier of Human Rights Abuses by Salvadoran Government</h2>

Of the Romero assassination, Abrams <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/Anybody_who_thinks_you_re_go.doc" title="reference on told the Washington Post in 1993" target="_blank">told the Washington Post in 1993</a> [9] that "anybody who thinks you're going to find a cable that says that Roberto d'Aubuisson murdered the archbishop is a fool." But as the Post noted in that same article, the U.S. Embassy sent at least two such cables to Washington fingering d'Aubuisson -- the December 21, 1981 cable, for example, describes: "A meeting, chaired by Maj. Roberto d'Aubuisson, during which the murder of Archbishop Romero was planned. During the meeting, some of the participants drew lots for the privilege of killing the archbishop."

Memorial at El MozoteBut Abrams is perhaps best known for denying one of the worst atrocities of the war, the massacre at El Mozote, where in December 1981 U.S-trained government soldiers marched into a village and murdered around 800 civilians, many of whom were women and children. The men were tortured before being shot, and girls as young as 10 were raped before having their throats slit. Abrams, who at the time was Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, dismissed reports published in the New York Times and Washington Post about the massacre, telling a Senate committee tasked with certifying the Salvadoran government's human rights record that the reports of deaths "were not credible" and suggesting the guerrillas had "significantly misused" the stories for propaganda. The U.N. Truth Commission later confirmed the newspapers' reports on the massacre, and the Salvadoran government (which elected its first left-wing president ever in 2009) officially apologized for the event in December of last year.

These and other denials helped justify another ten years of United States funding for the Salvadoran military and its death squads. The tiny country would receive $6 billion from the U.S. over the course of its civil war, making it the second-highest recipient of U.S. aid behind Israel during that period, despite mounting death tolls and continued atrocities.

Elliot AbramsAbrams has remained unrepentant about U.S. policy in El Salvador, <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/Anybody_who_thinks_you_re_go.doc" title="reference on calling it" target="_blank">calling it</a> [9] "one of fabulous achievement." He was convicted in 1991 of two misdemeanors for unlawfully withholding information from Congress during the Iran-Contra scandal but was pardoned by the first President Bush.

<h2>Abrams, Neocons Passing the Torch to VP Pick Ryan</h2>

This week,The Daily Beast <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/11/defense-hawks-rejoice-paul-ryan-s-your-man.html" title="reference on first reported" target="_blank">first reported</a> [10] that Abrams' latest act is advising Republican GOP candidate Ryan on foreign policy. Abrams told the website Ryan "knows more about foreign policy than people may think, in view of his concentration on the economy." Other right-wing foreign policy experts told The Daily Beast that despite Ryan's professed fiscal conservatism, he, like Reagan, supports spending billions or trillions to preserve U.S. military power and international influence.

Ryan has long been mentored by neoconservative Republican leaders who advanced U.S. policy in El Salvador. His first job in D.C. was as an aide to Sen. Bob Kasten of Wisconsin, a cheerleader for sending billions to El Salvador's brutal military government and who in the 1980s chaired the Senate foreign operations appropriations subcommittee responsible for approving those funds.

After Kasten lost his seat to Russ Feingold in 1992, Ryan became a speechwriter for the right-wing think tank Empower America, which was founded by Jeane Kirkpatrick and Jack Kemp. As a foreign policy adviser to Reagan in 1980 Kirkpatrick famously defended the rape, murder, and torture of four American Catholic missionaries (three of whom were nuns and one a lay missionary) at the hands of El Salvador's government forces, claiming "the nuns were not just nuns. The nuns were also political activists." Kirkpatrick went on to become Reagan's UN Ambassador. Kemp, who Ryan <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7417864n" title="reference on recently identified" target="_blank">recently identified</a> [11] as a key mentor, was also a major supporter of U.S. funding to El Salvador's military government.

Even if Romney can distance himself from the death squad-linked Salvadoran investors that provided the seed money for his vast wealth, Ryan's political upbringing and his being mentored by a man of Abrams' pedigree makes it clear that the tragedies of El Salvador's civil war and this dark chapter in U.S. history will continue to cast a shadow over the Romney - Ryan campaign.

</div>

<div class="print-footer">Center for Media and Democracy • 520 University Avenue, Suite 260 • Madison, Wisconsin 53703

Phone: 608-260-9713 • Fax: 608-260-9714</div>

<div class="print-source_url">Source URL: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/08/11710/us-funded-war-el-salvador-casts-shadow-over-romneyryan-campaign">http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/08/11710/us-funded-war-el-salvador-casts-shadow-over-romneyryan-campaign</a></div>

Links:

[1] http://www.prwatch.org/users/35275/brendan-fischer

[2] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/us-government/election-2012

[3] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/democracy

[4] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/politics

[5] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2012%2F08%2F11710%2Fus-funded-war-el-salvador-casts-shadow-over-romneyryan-campaign&linkname=U.S.-Funded%20War%20in%20El%20Salvador%20Casts%20Shadow%20over%20Romney%2FRyan%20Campaign

[6] http://www.usip.org/publications/truth-commission-el-salvador

[7] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/mitt-romney-death-squads-bain_n_1710133.html

[8] http://www.speakersaccess.com/elliott-abrams

[9] http://www.prwatch.org/files/Anybody_who_thinks_you_re_go.doc

[10] http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/11/defense-hawks-rejoice-paul-ryan-s-your-man.html

[11] http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7417864n

==

Ryan supports $40 billion in subsides for big oil. In 2011, Ryan joined all House Republicans and 13 Democrats in his <a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2011-153">vote</a> to keep Big Oil tax loopholes as part of the FY 2011 spending bill. His budget would <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/03/ryan_big_oil.html">retain</a> a decade’s worth of oil tax breaks worth $40 billion, while cutting “billions of dollars from investments to develop alternative fuels and clean energy technologies that would serve as substitutes for oil.” For instance, it “calls for a $3 billion cut in energy programs in FY 2013 alone” and would spend only $150 million over five years — or 20 percent of what was invested in 2012 — on energy programs.

8. Ryan has ownership stakes in companies that benefit from oil subsidies . Ryan “and his wife, Janna, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/06/17/247570/paul-ryan-family-beneft-subsidies-for-big-oil-in-his-budget/">own stakes</a> in four family companies that lease land in Texas and Oklahoma to the very energy companies that benefit from the tax subsidies in Ryan’s budget plan,” the Daily Beast <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/17/paul-ryan-s-shrewd-budget-payday-congressman-could-benefit-from-tax-breaks-he-proposes.html">reported</a> in June of 2011. “Ryan’s father-in-law, Daniel Little, who runs the companies, told Newsweek and The Daily Beast that the family companies are currently leasing the land for mining and drilling to energy giants such as Chesapeake Energy, Devon, and XTO Energy, a recently acquired subsidiary of ExxonMobil.”

---

gore huffpo:

He has also <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/04/02/should_america_bid_farewell_to_exceptional_freedom.html" target="_hplink">said</a> there is "growing disagreement among scientists about climate change and its causes."

In addition to his opposition to meaningful action to reduce global warming pollution, Paul Ryan's budget <a href="http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/clean-energy-is-a-target-of-ryan-budget-plan/" target="_hplink">called for</a> "drastic cuts in federal spending on energy research and development and for the outright elimination of subsidies and tax breaks for wind, solar power and other alternative energy technologies."

Solving the climate crisis requires political leadership that recognizes the serious reality of global warming and fights for policies that move us toward a clean energy economy, not backward.

 ===

ayn rand: <a href="http://front.moveon.org/is-ayn-rand-really-the-person-republicans-want-to-imitate/?rc=daily.share+">http://front.moveon.org/is-ayn-rand-really-the-person-republicans-want-to-imitate/?rc=daily.share+</a>

got him into pol: collectivism vs indiv "moral case for capitalism"  was doing talk at catholic school, so got a letter, he went to nat rev? to recant

dn: lives in mansion of parker pen co (rip) on street where he grew up; smallish city so no media, flew under radar. local ppl did not understand his policy. true town hall uprisings. ~ min wage;

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential pick, is a virulent denier of climate science, with a voting record to match.

A <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/02/02/142061/paul-ryan-koch/">favorite of the Koch brothers</a>, Ryan has accused scientists of engaging in conspiracy to “intentionally mislead the public on the issue of climate change.” He has implied that snow invalidates global warming.

Ryan has voted to <a href="http://capwiz.com/lcv/issues/votes/?votenum=249&chamber=H&congress=1121">prevent</a> the Environmental Protection Agency from limiting greenhouse pollution, to <a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll087.xml">eliminate</a> White House climate advisers, to <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/06/18/247507/as-crops-are-killed-house-forbids-usda-from-preparing-for-climate-disasters/">block</a> the U.S. Department of Agriculture from preparing for climate disasters like the <a href="http://host.madison.com/wsj/business/bad-outlook-seen-for-corn-crop-in-southern-part-of/article_02d770b4-e330-11e1-9d3b-0019bb2963f4.html">drought devastating his home state</a>, and to <a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll055.xml">eliminate</a> the Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E):

Paul Ryan Promoted Unfounded Conspiracy Theories About Climate Scientists. In a December 2009 op-ed during international climate talks, Ryan made reference to the hacked University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit emails. He accused climatologists of a “perversion of the scientific method, where data were manipulated to support a predetermined conclusion,” in order to “intentionally mislead the public on the issue of climate change.” Because of spurious claims of conspiracy like these, several governmental and academic inquiries were launched, all of which found the accusations to be without merit. [Paul Ryan, <a href="http://paulryan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=193671">12/11/09</a>]

Paul Ryan Argued Snow Invalidates Global Warming Policy. In the same anti-science, anti-scientist December 2009 op-ed, Ryan argued, “Unilateral economic restraint in the name of fighting global warming has been a tough sell in our communities, where much of the state is buried under snow.” Ryan’s line is especially disingenuous because he hasn’t been trying to sell climate action, he’s been spreading disinformation.  [Paul Ryan, <a href="http://paulryan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=193671">12/11/09</a>]

Paul Ryan Voted To Eliminate EPA Limits On Greenhouse Pollution. Ryan voted in favor of H.R. 910, introduced in 2011 by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas pollution. [Roll Call 249, <a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll249.xml">4/7/11</a>]

Paul Ryan Voted To Block The USDA From Preparing For Climate Change. In 2011, Ryan voted in favor of the Scalise (R-LA) Amendment to the FY12 Agriculture Appropriations bill, to bar the U.S. Department of Agriculture from implementing its Climate Protection Plan. [Roll Call 448, <a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll448.xml">6/16/11</a>]

Paul Ryan Voted To Eliminate White House Climate Advisers. Ryan voted in favor of Scalise (R-LA) Amendment 204 to the 2011 Continuing Resolution, to eliminate the assistant to the president for energy and climate change, the special envoy for climate change (Todd Stern), and the special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation. [Roll Call 87, <a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll087.xml">2/17/11</a>]

Paul Ryan Voted To Eliminate ARPA-E. Ryan voted in favor of Biggert (R-IL) Amendment 192 to the 2011 Continuing Resolution, to eliminate the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E). [Roll Call 55, <a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll055.xml">2/17/11</a>]

Paul Ryan Voted To Eliminate Light Bulb Efficiency Standards. In 2011, Ryan voted to roll back light-bulb efficiency standards that had reinvigorated the domestic lighting industry and that significantly reduce energy waste and carbon pollution. [Roll Call 563, <a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll563.xml">7/12/11</a>]

Paul Ryan Voted For Keystone XL. In 2011, Ryan voted to expedite the consideration and approval of the construction and operation of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. [Roll Call 650, <a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll650.xml">7/26/11</a>]

Paul Ryan Budget Kept Big Oil Subsidies And Slashed Clean Energy Investment. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposed FY 2013 budget resolution retained a decade’s worth of oil tax breaks worth $40 billion, while slashing funding for investments in clean energy research, development, deployment, and commercialization, along with other energy programs. The plan called for a $3 billion cut in energy programs in FY 2013 alone. [CAP, <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/03/ryan_big_oil.html">3/20/12</a>]

</blockquote>

In short, Paul Ryan stands with Big Oil against scientific fact and the future of human civilization.

This piece has been updated.

Related Post:

<ul>

<li><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/06/17/247570/paul-ryan-family-beneft-subsidies-for-big-oil-in-his-budget/">Paul Ryan And His Family To Benefit From The $45 Billion In Subsidies For Big Oil In His Budget</a></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/tag/climate-change-deniers/">Climate Change Deniers</a></li>

<li><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/tag/global-warming/">Global Warming</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

==

Paul D. Ryan, Jr. (born January 29, 1970) has been a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Republican_Party" title="Republican Party" class="mw-redirect">Republican</a> member of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=United_States_House_of_Representatives" title="United States House of Representatives" class="mw-redirect">United States House of Representatives</a> since 1999, representing the <a href="http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/wi01_109.gif" class="external text" title="http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/wi01_109.gif" rel="nofollow">First Congressional District</a> of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Members_of_the_U.S._Congress_from_Wisconsin" title="Category:Members of the U.S. Congress from Wisconsin">Wisconsin</a>. He is currently chairman of the House Budget Committee, and is best known for his deficit reduction plan <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Roadmap_for_America%27s_Future" title="Roadmap for America's Future">Roadmap for America's Future</a>.

On April 5, 2011, Ryan introduced a House budget plan called the "Path to Prosperity" that includes many elements of his Roadmap, including cutting the top income tax rate by nearly a third, from 35 percent to 25 percent, dismantling Medicaid and cutting Medicare, among other budget cuts.

Rep. Ryan gave the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday, January 25 2011. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a>

Rep. Ryan was a vocal supporter of the 2008 <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wall_Street_bailout" title="Wall Street bailout" class="mw-redirect">Wall Street bailout</a> and convinced fellow Republicans to vote for the bill. His impassioned speech in support of the $800 billion plan earned him a place in Michael Moore's documentary Capitalism: A Love Story. While the Tea Party arose, in part, as an angry response to the expensive bailout, Rep. Ryan has since positioned himself as a defender of the movement's cries for fiscal responsibility.

See also <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Roadmap_for_America%27s_Future" title="Roadmap for America's Future">Roadmap for America's Future</a>.

<tr>

<td>

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a href="javascript:toggleToc()" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>]</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Rep.Ryan.27s_April_5.2C_2011.22Path_to_Prosperity.22_Budget_Proposal">1 Rep. Ryan's April 5, 2011 "Path to Prosperity" Budget Proposal</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Ryan_Cites_Flawed_Analysis_by_the_Heritage_Foundation">1.1 Ryan Cites Flawed Analysis by the Heritage Foundation</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Medicaid_Reforms">1.2 Medicaid Reforms</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Food_Stamps">1.3 Food Stamps</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Medicare_Slowly_Eliminated">1.4 Medicare Slowly Eliminated</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Ambiguous_Cuts_to_Non-Discretionary_Spending">1.5 Ambiguous Cuts to Non-Discretionary Spending</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Other_Criticisms_of_the_.22Path_to_Prosperity.22">1.6 Other Criticisms of the "Path to Prosperity"</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#2011_Republican_Response_to_President_Obama.27s_State_of_the_Union_address">2 2011 Republican Response to President Obama's State of the Union address</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Roadmap_For_America.27s_Future">3 Roadmap For America's Future</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#House_Budget_Committee">4 House Budget Committee</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#January_2011_House_Budget_Rules">4.1 January 2011 House Budget Rules</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Other_Issues">5 Other Issues</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Health_Care">5.1 Health Care</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Insurance_Industry_Regulation">5.2 Insurance Industry Regulation</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#2008_Wall_Street_Bailout">5.3 2008 Wall Street Bailout</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Social_Security_.28see_also_Roadmap_to_America.27s_Future.29">5.4 Social Security (see also Roadmap to America's Future)</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Earmarks_.5B37.5D">5.5 Earmarks [37]</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Funding">5.6 Funding</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Top_Contributors_by_Industry.28as_of_January_2011.29.5B32.5D">5.6.1 Top Contributors by Industry (as of January 2011) [32]</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Top_Individual_Contributors.28as_of_January_2011.29_.5B32.5D">5.6.2 Top Individual Contributors (as of January 2011) [32]</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Background">5.7.1 Background</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Congressional_Career">5.7.2 Congressional Career</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Boards_and_other_Affiliations">5.7.3 Boards and other Affiliations</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Contact">5.8 Contact</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Campaign_Contact_Information">5.8.1 Campaign Contact Information</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Articles_and_resources">5.9 Articles and resources</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Sources">5.9.1 Sources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#External_resources">5.9.2 External resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#Local_blogs_and_discussion_sites">5.9.3 Local blogs and discussion sites</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</td>

</tr>

</tbody></table>

===

<a href="http://budget.house.gov/UploadedFiles/PathToProsperityFY2012.pdf">House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan's</a> (R-Wis.) proposed fiscal year 2012 budget resolution is a backward-looking plan that would benefit Big Oil companies at the expense of middle-class Americans. It retains $40 billion in Big Oil tax loopholes while completely eliminating investments in <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/03/green_jobs.html"> the clean energy technologies of the future</a> that are essential for long-term economic growth.

This budget would lock Americans into paying high, volatile energy prices. It would ensure that millions of clean energy jobs are created oversees -- not here in the United States. It is a path backward to Bush-Cheney Big Oil energy policies that cost jobs and harm American competitiveness. In short, the Ryan plan ensures that we lose the high-stakes competition for the <a href="http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/09/22/climate-related-business-could-top-2-trillion-by-2020/"> $2 trillion worldwide cleantech market</a>.

Ryan claims in an April 4 <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703806304576242612172357504.html"> Wall Street Journal</a> op-ed that his plan "rolls back expensive handouts for uncompetitive sources of energy, calling instead for a free and open marketplace for energy development, innovation and exploration." This is false. Ryan's proposal actually violates his assertion in two ways. It maintains wasteful subsidies for Big Oil, while cutting valuable investments in the clean energy technologies of the future....

<a href="http://">http://www.grist.org/politics/2011-04-06-paul-ryans-big-oil-budget-halts-energy-innovation</a>

<h1>Rep. Ryan's April 5, 2011 "Path to Prosperity" Budget Proposal</h1>

Ryan announced his budget proposal in an April 5, 2011 press conference and in an <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703806304576242612172357504.html#printMode" class="external text" title="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703806304576242612172357504.html#printMode" rel="nofollow">op-ed</a> in the Wall Street Journal. With Democrats controlling the Senate, the proposal is not expected to become law in the near future but explains the Republican agenda. Ryan claims the national debt would be $1.1 trillion less over the next five years than Obama's budget, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-1" title="">[2]</a> but his assumptions and numbers have been called into question. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-2" title="">[3]</a>

The plan would mostly privatize Medicare, and convert Medicaid from a guaranteed benefits program to a block grant state-managed program that would likely limit eligibility and benefits. Medicare and Medicaid currently account for 25 percent of the federal budget, but spending on those health programs and Social Security is expected to grow substantially in coming years; Ryan's plan is one of the first to suggest substantial reforms to these programs.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-reuters_path-3" title="">[4]</a> Defense spending and Social Security are mostly unchanged from President Obama's proposed budget.

Ryan's plan would reduce the top income tax rate for both individuals and corporations from 35 percent to 25 percent, repeal estate taxes, and institute a national sales tax that would likely have the greatest impact on America's poor-and middle-class. The plan's budget calculations rest on the assumption that the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") will be repealed (even though the Congressional Budget Office has said the healthcare reforms will produce budget gains over the next decade).

The "Path to Prosperity" does not consider raising revenue to reduce the deficit, and does not confront spending on the military and America's two wars (the most expensive parts of the federal budget). Ryan says "I do want higher revenues but I want to get them through economic growth," and that "if you raise revenues you take the pressure off of spending." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-4" title="">[5]</a> However, critics such as Paul Krugman say Ryan's assumptions for economic growth reflect a "belief in the impossible:" the projections assume "unemployment will plunge right away; that by 2015 it will be down to the levels at the peak of the 1990s boom (and far below anything achieved under the sainted Ronald Reagan); and that by 2021 it will be below 3 percent, a level we haven’t seen in more than half a century."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-Krugman_unicorns-5" title="">[6]</a>

Krugman also points out that most of the "savings" from Ryan's ambiguous and severe spending cuts will not be directed at reducing the deficit, but financing the very large tax cuts that will primarily benefit the wealthy. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-where_cuts-6" title="">[7]</a> Considering that Ryan's assumptions on economic growth and employment rates are unrealistically rosy, the fall in revenue will likely be even larger than the plan anticipates. Krugman writes "the bottom line is obvious: this is not the budget of a deficit hawk. It’s the budget of a deficit exploiter, someone who is trying to use fears of red ink to push through a political agenda that includes major losses of revenue."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-where_cuts-6" title="">[7]</a>

The full plan can be found <a href="http://budget.house.gov/UploadedFiles/PathToProsperityFY2012.pdf" class="external text" title="http://budget.house.gov/UploadedFiles/PathToProsperityFY2012.pdf" rel="nofollow">here</a>. Ezra Klein has a brief summary of the "Path to Prosperity" <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/paul-ryans-budget-in-summary/2011/03/28/AFnwrZkC_blog.html" class="external text" title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/paul-ryans-budget-in-summary/2011/03/28/AFnwrZkC_blog.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>. The Congressional Budget Office has its analysis of the plan's budgetary impact (but not a cost estimate) <a href="http://cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12128" class="external text" title="http://cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12128" rel="nofollow">here</a>.

<h4>Ryan Cites Flawed Analysis by the Heritage Foundation</h4>

In his Wall Street Journal op-ed supporting his "Path to Prosperity," Ryan writes:

<dl>

<dd>"A study just released by the Heritage Center for Data Analysis projects that The Path to Prosperity will help create nearly one million new private-sector jobs next year, bring the unemployment rate down to 4% by 2015, and result in 2.5 million additional private-sector jobs in the last year of the decade. It spurs economic growth, with $1.5 trillion in additional real GDP over the decade. According to Heritage’s analysis, it would result in $1.1 trillion in higher wages and an average of $1,000 in additional family income each year."</dd>

</dl>

The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Heritage_Foundation" title="Heritage Foundation">Heritage Foundation</a> Analysis was called "simply outlandish" by The Economist. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-economist_path_analysis-7" title="">[8]</a> David Weigel at Slate writes "Heritage sees unemployment falling, by 2018, to the lowest level since the roaring 20s -- and then going lower!" <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-8" title="">[9]</a> The Economist points out "when the Obama administration projected a 5.9% unemployment rate in 2015 falling to 5.3% by the end of the decade, the Congressional Budget Office chided it for excessive optimism. . . [the Heritage Foundation's] assumption, in other words, [is] unrealistic enough to be considered somewhat bizarre. Everyone puts a positive spin on their policy proposals. But fundamentally worthy policies shouldn't need to promise laughably overoptimistic outcomes to win support.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-economist_path_analysis-7" title="">[8]</a> Bruce Bartlett, a former Treasury official under President George H.W. Bush, told TPMDC that analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office "is what they use on the budget side -- as a matter of procedure, any numbers from the Heritage Foundation or anybody else are essentially worthless . . . You can assert whatever you want to assert, but you can always find some half-baked tax think tank that will make up any number you feel like."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-9" title="">[10]</a>

Paul Krugman also points out that the Heritage analysis Ryan relies on assumes "housing investment in 2015 would be back to its level in 2006 — at the height of the housing bubble," and would continue rising. "You can’t have this kind of housing boom without massive borrowing," Krugman writes. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-10" title="">[11]</a>

Matthew Yglesias points out that the Heritage Foundation also predicted in 2001 that President George W. Bush's tax cuts "would lead the country into a brave new era of prosperity." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-11" title="">[12]</a>

<h4>Medicaid Reforms</h4>

The "Path" aims to turn Medicaid into a "block grant" program that gives state governors wide discretion on how it is spent. Healthcare advocates say this will lead to reduced benefits and make fewer people eligible for the program.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-reuters_path-3" title="">[4]</a>

Ezra Klein at the Washington Post points out that, even though Ryan lists Medicaid under "welfare reform," two-thirds (67%) of Medicaid payouts go towards seniors and the disabled, not the poor. This is despite the fact that seniors and the disabled are only 25% of Medicaid's members. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-Klein_Medicaid-12" title="">[13]</a> Klein notes that Medicaid is 20 percent cheaper than a private-insurance plan, and that converting Medicaid into block grants is not intended to reduce costs, but to limit eligibility and benefits. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-Klein_Medicaid-12" title="">[13]</a>

<h4>Food Stamps</h4>

The "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program," otherwise known as the food stamp program, is treated the same as Medicaid: block grants to states, indexed for inflation and population growth.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-13" title="">[14]</a>

<h4>Medicare Slowly Eliminated</h4>

Ryan's "Path" would phase- out traditional pay-for-service Medicare, the government program providing health insurance coverage to persons 65 and older, and replace it with government subsidies for the elderly to obtain healthcare through private insurers. According to Ryan, "this is not a voucher program but rather a premium-support model." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-Ryan_WSJ_op-ed-14" title="">[15]</a> The plan would be phased-in and only take effect for persons currently under age 55.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that seniors will be paying on average 68% of their health care costs by 2030, more than twice as much than under current law.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-Krugman_unicorns-5" title="">[6]</a> The economist Dean Baker points out seniors would end up spending most of their income on healthcare. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-15" title="">[16]</a>

Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) points out that this is an unfair comparison: members of Congress are only expected to pay 28% of their health care costs, in contrast to the 68% seniors will be paying under Ryan's "Path." What's more, with seniors' medical costs being even higher than the broader population, and the amount of the voucher fixed and not based on healthcare costs, the difference is even more striking. He writes: "when the plan takes effect in 2022, the average senior would receive $8,000 to buy insurance. Plans for Members of Congress cost $9,012 in 2010. What kind of health care plan will $8,000 buy in 2022 for our sickest and oldest seniors, when $9,000 can't buy a plan for a Member of Congress today?"<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-16" title="">[17]</a>

Ryan has claimed the "Path's" Medicare proposal resembles the one he developed with <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Alice_Rivlin" title="Alice Rivlin" class="mw-redirect">Alice Rivlin</a>, Brookings scholar and former advisor to President Bill Clinton, but Rivlin has said she does not support Ryan's plan. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-18" title="">[19]</a> Rivlin says she does not want to eliminate Medicare entirely, and would increase the value of the vouchers at GDP+1 (inflation plus productivity growth (which is what GDP represents) plus one additional percentage point). She also states that she supports upholding the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Affordable_Care_Act&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Affordable Care Act (page does not exist)">Affordable Care Act</a> ("Obamacare"), particularly in regards to its promotion of research and pilot programs aimed at reducing healthcare costs. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-19" title="">[20]</a>

<h4>Ambiguous Cuts to Non-Discretionary Spending</h4>

Paul Krugman writes "the biggest source of supposed savings in the plan isn’t actually health care, it’s an assumption that federal spending on everything except health and Social Security can somehow be squeezed, as a percent of GDP, to a small fraction of current levels . . . Ryan is assuming that everything aside from health and SS can be squeezed from 12 percent of GDP now to 3 1/2 percent of GDP. That’s bigger than the assumed cut in health care spending relative to baseline; it accounts for all of the projected deficit reduction, since the alleged health savings are all used to finance tax cuts. And how is this supposed to be accomplished? Not explained. This isn’t a serious proposal; it’s a strange combination of cruelty and insanely wishful thinking." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-Krugman_unicorns-5" title="">[6]</a>

<h4>Other Criticisms of the "Path to Prosperity"</h4>

In response to claims that Paul Ryan was "courageous" for confronting budget issues with difficult cuts, Chris Van Hollen said:

<dl>

<dd>“To govern is to choose, and it is not courageous to protect tax breaks for millionaires, oil companies, and other big money special interests while slashing our investments in education, ending the current health care guarantees for seniors on Medicare, and denying health care coverage to tens of millions of Americans. That’s not courageous, it’s wrong.”<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-20" title="">[21]</a></dd>

</dl>

Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities writes that Ryan's plan is expected to "shrink federal spending to about 20 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2015 and to 14.75 percent of GDP by 2050 — the lowest level since 1951, a time when Medicare and Medicaid did not exist."

<dl>

<dd>"Yet, Medicare and Medicaid would actually fare better than most of the rest of the budget. Perhaps the single most stunning piece of information that the CBO report reveals is that Ryan's plan "specifies a path for all other spending" (other than spending on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and interest payments) to drop "from 12 percent [of GDP] in 2010 to 6 percent in 2022 and 3½ percent by 2050." These figures are extraordinary. As CBO notes, "spending in this category has exceeded 8 percent of GDP in every year since World War II."Defense spending has equaled or exceeded 3 percent of GDP every year since 1940, and the Ryan budget does not envision defense cuts in real terms (although defense could decline a bit as a share of GDP). Assuming defense spending remained level in real terms, most of the rest of the federal government outside of health care, Social Security, and defense would cease to exist." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-21" title="">[22]</a></dd>

</dl>

<h1>2011 Republican Response to President Obama's State of the Union address</h1>

Rep. Ryan delivered the Republican response to the 2011 State of the Union address, where he claimed that reducing spending is "imperative" because: "We face a crushing burden of debt. The debt will soon eclipse our entire economy, and grow to catastrophic levels in the years ahead."Ryan criticized President Obama's calls for "investments" to improve the economy, calling them tools of a "government that controls too much; taxes too much; and spends too much in order to do too much." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-SOTU_rebuttal-22" title="">[23]</a>

Rep. Ryan also said: "Just take a look at what’s happening to Greece, Ireland, the United Kingdom and other nations in Europe. They didn’t act soon enough; and now their governments have been forced to impose painful austerity measures: large benefit cuts to seniors and huge tax increases on everybody."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-SOTU_rebuttal-22" title="">[23]</a>

Paul Krugman took issue with Ryan's depiction of Europe, and wrote: "Greece maybe fits that description. But if you’d read anything about the euro crisis . . . you’d know that Ireland was running a budget surplus on the eve of the crisis, and had quite low debt. Its problems now have nothing to do with fiscal irresponsibility in the past; they’re the consequence of weak financial regulation and the government’s too-generous bank bailout."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-23" title="">[24]</a>

<dl>

<dd>"On the eve of the financial crisis, conservatives had nothing but praise for Ireland, a low-tax, low-spending country by European standards. The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom ranked it above every other Western nation. In 2006, George Osborne, now Britain’s chancellor of the Exchequer, declared Ireland “a shining example of the art of the possible in long-term economic policy making.” And the truth was that in 2006-2007 Ireland was running a budget surplus, and had one of the lowest debt levels in the advanced world.</dd>

</dl>

<dl>

<dd>So what went wrong? The answer is: out-of-control banks; Irish banks ran wild during the good years, creating a huge property bubble. When the bubble burst, revenue collapsed, causing the deficit to surge, while public debt exploded because the government ended up taking over bank debts. And harsh spending cuts, while they have led to huge job losses, have failed to restore confidence.</dd>

</dl>

<dl>

<dd>The lesson of the Irish debacle, then, is very nearly the opposite of what Mr. Ryan would have us believe. It doesn’t say “cut spending now, or bad things will happen”; it says that balanced budgets won’t protect you from crisis if you don’t effectively regulate your banks — a point made in the newly released report of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Financial_Crisis_Inquiry_Commission" title="Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission">Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission</a>, which concludes that “30 years of deregulation and reliance on self-regulation” helped create our own catastrophe. Have I mentioned that Republicans are doing everything they can to undermine financial reform?"<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-private_europe-24" title="">[25]</a></dd>

</dl>

Krugman also takes issue with Ryan's depiction of the UK's financial situation, noting that British Prime Minister David Cameron has implemented austerity measures voluntarily, not in response to market pressure; "underlying that choice was the new British government’s adherence to the same theory offered by Republicans to justify their demand for immediate spending cuts here — the claim that slashing government spending in the face of a depressed economy will actually help growth rather than hurt it." However, the British economy has not recovered as hoped. "Mr. Ryan is widely portrayed as an intellectual leader within the G.O.P., with special expertise on matters of debt and deficits. So the revelation that he literally doesn’t know the first thing about the debt crises currently in progress is, as I said, interesting — and not in a good way." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-private_europe-24" title="">[25]</a>

<h1>Roadmap For America's Future</h1>

Visit the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Roadmap_for_America%27s_Future" title="Roadmap for America's Future">Roadmap for America's Future</a> SourceWatch entry for information on Paul Ryan's "Roadmap."

The Washington Post's Ezra Klein has said "Ryan's Roadmap . . . is a timebomb for [the Republican party]: It doesn't just privatize Medicare, but it holds costs down by giving seniors checks that won't keep up with the price of health care. It privatizes much of Social Security. It cuts taxes on the rich while raising them on many in the middle class." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-25" title="">[26]</a> Despite raising taxes on nearly 90% of Americans and cutting entitlement programs, the Roadmap's massive tax cuts for the rich are expected to result in a budget deficit of between $1.3 and 2 trillion over the next decade. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-Krugman_Roadmap-26" title="">[27]</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-CTJ-27" title="">[28]</a>

<h1>House Budget Committee</h1>

Rep. Ryan is the Chairman of the powerful House Budget Committee.

<h3>January 2011 House Budget Rules</h3>

In January 2011, newly-sworn in House Republicans (who had just taken control after the 2010 midterm elections) passed a number of new rules that will greatly empower Rep. Ryan in his role as Budget Committee Chair. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-wash_post_house_rules-28" title="">[29]</a>

The rules will make it easier for Ryan to almost unilaterally force reductions in spending, granting him what the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Economic_Policy_Institute" title="Economic Policy Institute">Economic Policy Institute</a> calls "“interim” authority to set committee allocations and revenue and spending levels for the remainder of FY2011 without any vote of approval. Using this power, Chairman Ryan is expected to slash the non-security discretionary budget for the remainder of this fiscal year by more than 20% relative to the president’s budget request (the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security will be exempted)." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-EPI_house_rules-29" title="">[30]</a> The rules give Rep. Ryan the ability to refuse "Senate appropriations bills exceeding the levels set by Ryan could be ruled out of order in the House, essentially allowing the House Budget Committee chairman to hold the government’s operating budget hostage to his preferences or face a government shutdown."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-EPI_house_rules-29" title="">[30]</a>

The 2011 rules overturn rules governing "reconciliation" (a procedure used to circumvent filibuster votes) that were aimed at avoiding increases in the deficit; under the new rules, Ryan has the power to pass a budget resolution for sweeping, unfunded tax cuts. According to EPI:

<dl>

<dd>"Through the 1990s, reconciliation instructions (which originate from the budget committees) were intended and used as a tool to reduce deficits. In the early 2000s, the reconciliation process took a U-turn and was used to pass legislation first draining surpluses and the then increasing deficits. Notably, reconciliation was used to pass the unpaid for Bush-era tax cuts, which the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes added $2.6 trillion to the public debt between 2001 and 2010.</dd>

</dl>

<dl>

<dd>After watching surpluses turn to chronic deficits, the 110th Congress in 2007 ruled that budget resolutions would be out of order if they included reconciliation directives that would increase the deficit. But now that rule has been reversed, and Ryan has the power to pass a budget resolution instructing sweeping, unfunded tax cuts." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-EPI_house_rules-29" title="">[30]</a></dd>

</dl>

According to the Washington Post, the rules "make it easier to increase the national debt by exempting trillions of dollars in GOP priorities from pay-as-you-go rules put in place by Democrats. For example, House Republicans could extend Bush administration tax cuts for the wealthy past their 2012 expiration or create a significant new tax break for businesses without regard for the holes those policies would blow in the nation's finances."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-wash_post_house_rules-28" title="">[29]</a> The Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) rules were instituted to prevent new legislation from widening deficits or squandering surpluses; any piece of legislation that increased mandatory spending or decreased revenue had to be fully offset with spending cuts and/or tax increases to ensure deficit-neutrality (unless granted an emergency designation). According to the Economic Policy Institute: "Under the new House rules, PAYGO has been replaced with a bizarre Cut-As-You-Go (CUTGO) rule, which requires that new mandatory spending be offset only by spending decreases and explicitly exempts all tax cuts from requiring offsets." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-EPI_house_rules-29" title="">[30]</a>

EPI states that "[u]nder the new House rules and leadership of Chairman Ryan, it will be easier to pass massive unfunded tax cuts, easier to slash domestic investments, harder to pass routine legislation that tangentially increases mandatory spending, and impossible to use sensible reform of wasteful tax expenditures as offsets for public investments."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-EPI_house_rules-29" title="">[30]</a>

<h1>Other Issues</h1>

<h4>Health Care</h4>

Ryan voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"), and also voted in favor of repealing the bill, despite the independent, non-partisan Congressional Budget Office declaring that repeal will add $230 Billion more to the deficit. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-30" title="">[31]</a>

<h4>Insurance Industry Regulation</h4>

In 2010, John Nichols wrote in the Capital Times that Ryan "was one of just 19 members of the House who voted against a proposal to strip antitrust exemptions for insurance companies. According to the American Medical Association, most local markets in the U.S. are dominated by a single insurer. What that means is that there is no real competition, a circumstance that allows big insurers to impose radical rate hikes." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-32" title="">[33]</a> Rep. Ryan has accepted over $660,000 in contributions from the insurance industry. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-open_secrets-31" title="">[32]</a>

<h4>2008 Wall Street Bailout</h4>

Rep. Ryan was a major supporter of President George W. Bush's $800 billion <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wall_Street_bailout" title="Wall Street bailout" class="mw-redirect">Wall Street bailout</a>, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Division A of Pub.L. 110-343). Ryan rallied Republican votes for the bill, managing to overcome the instincts of many fiscal conservatives.

<h4>Social Security (see also Roadmap to America's Future)</h4>

Ryan voted for the Social Security Protection Act of 2003 <a href="http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_keyvote_detail.php?vote_id=3248&can_id=CWI75696%7C11" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_keyvote_detail.php?vote_id=3248&can_id=CWI75696|11" rel="nofollow">[1]</a>, designed to help the Social Security Administration's ability to protect it's program. He is working for reform, in particular limiting the ability of other branches of government to appropriate Social Security surplus funds, because the surplus will disappear as the Baby Boomers age. <a href="http://www.house.gov/ryan/issuepapers/socialsecurityissuepaper.html%7C12" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.house.gov/ryan/issuepapers/socialsecurityissuepaper.html|12" rel="nofollow">[2]</a>

In 2004, he introduced a reform bill <a href="http://www.socialsecurity.org/sstw/sstw07-23-04.pdf%7C13" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.socialsecurity.org/sstw/sstw07-23-04.pdf|13" rel="nofollow">[3]</a> that would allow workers to shift a large portion of their Social Security payroll tax to financial index funds managed by private investment firms. Individuals exercising the private investment option would still receive SS benefits based only on the past amount they already paid into the traditional system. Critics argue that Ryan's plan would eventually defund traditional SS by discouraging participation at the expense of added risk for the promise of greater returns. Thereby circumventing the primary purpose and original intent of Social Security.

Ryan refused to respond to citizens on issues through the National Political Awareness Test (NPAT).<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-35" title="">[36]</a>

<h3>Earmarks <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-Center_for_Responsive_Politics-36" title="">[37]</a></h3>

<ul>

<li>Over a recent three-year period, Ryan obtained more than $5.3 million in earmarks, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.</li>

<li>He requested no earmarks in 2009 or 2010</li>

<li>In 2008, Ryan’s earmarks included $3.2 million for the Wisconsin statewide bus system, about $1.3 million for the Ice Age National Scenic Trail in Wisconsin, and $750,000 for the Janesville City Transit System</li>

<li>Ryan, along with nine other senior House Republicans, in March 2010 urged a moratorium on earmarks as the “only way to wipe the slate clean and allow us to start getting spending under control”</li>

</ul>

<h2>Funding</h2>

<h4>Top Contributors by Industry (as of January 2011) <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-open_secrets-31" title="">[32]</a></h4>

<ul>

<li>Insurance $660,571</li>

<li>Retired $644,246</li>

<li>Securities & Investment $515,049</li>

<li>Health Professionals $431,013</li>

<li>Misc Manufacturing & Distributing $301,400</li>

<li>Real Estate $272,434</li>

<li>Commercial Banks $260,995</li>

<li>Automotive $250,150</li>

<li>Lawyers/Law Firms $248,716</li>

<li>Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $230,592</li>

<li>Accountants $201,602</li>

<li>Leadership PACs $194,699</li>

<li>Hospitals/Nursing Homes $180,477</li>

<li>General Contractors $175,400</li>

<li>Misc Finance $174,339</li>

<li>Health Services/HMOs $161,392</li>

<li>Building Materials & Equipment $160,449</li>

<li>Retail Sales $152,009</li>

<li>Telephone Utilities $151,305</li>

</ul>

<h4>Top Individual Contributors (as of January 2011) <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_note-open_secrets-31" title="">[32]</a></h4>

(total reflects both individual and PAC contributions)

<ul>

<li>Northwestern Mutual $70,300</li>

<li>National Beer Wholesalers Assn $70,000</li>

<li>National Auto Dealers Assn $63,500</li>

<li>National Assn of Home Builders $62,500</li>

<li>Koch Industries $60,500</li>

<li>Natl Assn/Insurance & Financial Advisors $60,000</li>

<li>American Bankers Assn $51,045</li>

<li>Blue Cross/Blue Shield $48,650</li>

<li>Carpenters & Joiners Union $47,500</li>

<li>United Parcel Service $47,443</li>

<li>Abbott Laboratories $47,250</li>

<li>Associated General Contractors $46,200</li>

<li>Investment Co Institute $45,999</li>

<li>National Assn of Realtors $44,560</li>

<li>Credit Suisse Group $44,200</li>

<li>Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance $41,200</li>

<li>SC Johnson & Son $41,092</li>

<li>PricewaterhouseCoopers $38,693</li>

<li>American Hospital Assn $36,025</li>

</ul>

<h3>Background</h3>

Ryan was born January 29, 1970 in Janesville, Wisconsin. He graduated from Joseph A. Craig High School and later he attended Miami University in Ohio before entering the family construction business (Ryan Incorporated Central, founded in 1884 by his great-grandfather).

Ryan worked as an aide to U.S. Senator <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Robert_W._Kasten" title="Robert W. Kasten">Bob Kasten</a> in 1992 and as legislative director for <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sam_Brownback" title="Sam Brownback">Sam Brownback</a> of Kansas from 1995 to 1997. He served as a speech writer at Empower America to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jack_Kemp" title="Jack Kemp" class="mw-redirect">Jack Kemp</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_Bennett" title="William Bennett" class="mw-redirect">William Bennett</a>.

<h3>Congressional Career</h3>

He was first elected to the House in 1998 at the age of 28 running as a conservative in a heavily Democratic congressional district, when he defeated highly-profiled <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Spottswood" class="extiw" title="w:Lydia Spottswood">Lydia Spottswood</a> 57%–42% to inherit the seat left by Mark Neumann.

He defeated perennial candidate <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Thomas" class="extiw" title="w:Jeff Thomas">Jeff Thomas</a> in 2000, 2002 and 2004 by margins of 65%–34%, 67%–31% and 60%–38%. He was re-elected in 2008 by defeating Marge Krupp with 64% to 36% of the vote.

Ryan won the 2010 general election with 68% of the vote, defeating both Democratic nominee John Heckenlively (30%) and Libertarian nominee Joseph Kexel (2%).

<h3>Boards and other Affiliations</h3>

<ul>

<li>Member, Ducks Unlimited</li>

<li>Member, Janesville Bowmen, Incorporated</li>

<li>Board of Directors, Rock County Junior Achievement</li>

<li>Member, Saint Mary's Parish</li>

</ul>

<h2>Contact</h2>

DC Office:

1113 Longworth House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515-4901

Phone:202-225-3031

Fax:202-225-3393

<a href="http://www.house.gov/ryan/email.htm" class="external text" title="http://www.house.gov/ryan/email.htm" rel="nofollow">Web Email</a>

<a href="http://www.house.gov/ryan/" class="external text" title="http://www.house.gov/ryan/" rel="nofollow">Website</a>

District Office- Janesville:

20 South Main Street, Suite 10

Janesville, WI 53545

Phone: 608-752-4050

Fax: 608-752-4711

District Office- Kenosha:

5712 7th Avenue

Kenosha, WI 53140

Phone: 262-654-1901

Fax: 262-654-2156

District Office- Racine:

304 6th Street

Racine, WI 53403

Phone: 262-637-0510

Fax: 262-637-5689

<h3>Campaign Contact Information</h3>

<a href="http://www.ryanforcongress.com" class="external text" title="http://www.ryanforcongress.com" rel="nofollow">Official Ryan for Congress website</a>

Ryan for Congress

P.O. Box 1919

Janesville, WI 53547

<a href="mailto:paul@ryanforcongress.com" class="external text" title="mailto:paul@ryanforcongress.com" rel="nofollow">paul@ryanforcongress.com</a>

<h2>Articles and resources</h2>

<tr>

<td colspan="2" style=" border-left: 0px none; padding: 0.5em 0.5em 0em;">This is a profile of a U.S. Representative. (See the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Portal:Wisconsin_and_the_U.S._Congress" title="Portal:Wisconsin and the U.S. Congress">Wisconsin portal</a> for all incumbents, candidates and blogs.)</td>

</tr>

<tr>

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</div>

</td>

</tr>

</tbody></table>

<h3>Sources</h3>

<li id="cite_note-0"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-0" title="">↑</a> David Lightman, <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/21/2027660/gop-taps-paul-ryan-to-give-rebuttal.html" class="external text" title="http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/21/2027660/gop-taps-paul-ryan-to-give-rebuttal.html" rel="nofollow">GOP Taps Paul Ryan to Give Rebuttal to Obama's Speech</a>, Miami Herald, January 21, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-1" title="">↑</a> Jon Ward, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/05/paul-ryan-budget-analysis-numbers_n_844946.html" class="external text" title="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/05/paul-ryan-budget-analysis-numbers_n_844946.html" rel="nofollow">Paul Ryan's Budget Proposal: Analysis of the Numbers</a>, Huffington Post, Apr. 5, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-2" title="">↑</a> Jonathan Bernstein, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/but-are-paul-ryans-numbers-real/2011/03/28/AFvk0ujC_blog.html" class="external text" title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/but-are-paul-ryans-numbers-real/2011/03/28/AFvk0ujC_blog.html" rel="nofollow">But Are Paul Ryan's Numbers Real?</a>, Washington Post (Plum Line), Apr. 5, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-reuters_path-3">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-reuters_path_3-0" title="">4.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-reuters_path_3-1" title="">4.1</a> Donna Smith, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/04/us-usa-budget-medicare-idUSTRE7336YI20110404" class="external text" title="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/04/us-usa-budget-medicare-idUSTRE7336YI20110404" rel="nofollow">Republican to Call for Sweeping Medicare Changes</a>, Apr. 4, 2011, Reuters.</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-4" title="">↑</a> Adam Sorensen, <a href="http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2011/04/06/qa-paul-ryan-on-his-path-to-prosperity/" class="external text" title="http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2011/04/06/qa-paul-ryan-on-his-path-to-prosperity/" rel="nofollow">Q&A: Paul Ryan on His Path to Prosperity</a>, TIME (online), Apr 6, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-Krugman_unicorns-5">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-Krugman_unicorns_5-0" title="">6.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-Krugman_unicorns_5-1" title="">6.1</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-Krugman_unicorns_5-2" title="">6.2</a> Paul Krugman, <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/paul-ryans-multiple-unicorns/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto" class="external text" title="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/paul-ryans-multiple-unicorns/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto" rel="nofollow">Paul Ryan's Multiple Unicorns</a>, NYTimes (blog), Apr. 6, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-where_cuts-6">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-where_cuts_6-0" title="">7.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-where_cuts_6-1" title="">7.1</a> Paul Krugman, <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/where-the-spending-cuts-go/" class="external text" title="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/where-the-spending-cuts-go/" rel="nofollow">Where the Spending Cuts Go</a>, NYTimes (blog), Apr. 6, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-economist_path_analysis-7">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-economist_path_analysis_7-0" title="">8.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-economist_path_analysis_7-1" title="">8.1</a> Ryan Avent, <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2011/04/facts_and_figures" class="external text" title="http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2011/04/facts_and_figures" rel="nofollow">Best Budget Ever</a>, Apr. 5, 2011, The Economist.</li>

<li id="cite_note-8"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-8" title="">↑</a> David Weigel, <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/weigel/archive/2011/04/05/gop-ryan-budget-analysis-predicts-2-8-percent-unemployment-by-2021.aspx" class="external text" title="http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/weigel/archive/2011/04/05/gop-ryan-budget-analysis-predicts-2-8-percent-unemployment-by-2021.aspx" rel="nofollow">GOP/Ryan Budget Analysis Predicts 2.8 Percent Unemployment by 2021</a>, Apr. 5, 2011, Slate.</li>

<li id="cite_note-9"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-9" title="">↑</a> Benjy Sarlin, <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/paul-ryans-absurdly-optimistic-budget-projections-draw-widespread-ridicule.php" class="external text" title="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/paul-ryans-absurdly-optimistic-budget-projections-draw-widespread-ridicule.php" rel="nofollow">Paul Ryan's Absurdly Optimistic Budget Projections Draw Widespread Ridicule</a>, TPMDC, Apr. 6, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-10"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-10" title="">↑</a> Paul Krugman, <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/and-a-housing-unicorn-too/" class="external text" title="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/and-a-housing-unicorn-too/" rel="nofollow">And a Housing Unicorn, Too</a>, NYTimes (blog), Apr. 6, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-11"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-11" title="">↑</a> Matt Yglesias, <a href="http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/paul-ryans-tax-plan-based-on-discredited-heritage-foundation-analysis-that-forecast-bush-boom/" class="external text" title="http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/paul-ryans-tax-plan-based-on-discredited-heritage-foundation-analysis-that-forecast-bush-boom/" rel="nofollow">Paul Ryan's Tax Plan Based on Discredited Heritage Foundation Anaysis That Forecast Bush Boom</a>, Think Progress, Apr. 5, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-Klein_Medicaid-12">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-Klein_Medicaid_12-0" title="">13.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-Klein_Medicaid_12-1" title="">13.1</a> Ezra Klein, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/cutting-medicaid-means-cutting-care-for-the-poor-sick-and-elderly/2011/03/28/AFXlFeiC_blog.html" class="external text" title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/cutting-medicaid-means-cutting-care-for-the-poor-sick-and-elderly/2011/03/28/AFXlFeiC_blog.html" rel="nofollow">Cutting Medicaid means cutting care for the poor, sick and elderly</a>, Apr. 5, 2011, Washington Post.</li>

<li id="cite_note-13"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-13" title="">↑</a> Ezra Klein, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/paul-ryans-budget-in-summary/2011/03/28/AFnwrZkC_blog.htm" class="external free" title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/paul-ryans-budget-in-summary/2011/03/28/AFnwrZkC_blog.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/paul-ryans-budget-in-summary/2011/03/28/AFnwrZkC_blog.htm</a> Paul Ryan's Budget in Summary], Washington Post (blog), Apr. 5, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-Ryan_WSJ_op-ed-14">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-Ryan_WSJ_op-ed_14-0" title="">15.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-Ryan_WSJ_op-ed_14-1" title="">15.1</a> Paul Ryan, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703806304576242612172357504.html#printMode" class="external text" title="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703806304576242612172357504.html#printMode" rel="nofollow">The GOP Path to Prosperity</a>, Wall Street Journal (op-ed), Apr. 5, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-15"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-15" title="">↑</a> Dean Baker and David Rosnick, <a href="http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/ryan-medicare-2011-04.pdf" class="external text" title="http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/ryan-medicare-2011-04.pdf" rel="nofollow">The Ryan Medicare Plan: Winners and Losers</a>, Center for Economic and Policy Research, April 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-16"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-16" title="">↑</a> Rep. Paul Tonko, <a href="http://tonko.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=29&parentid=7&sectiontree=7,29&itemid=545" class="external text" title="http://tonko.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=29&parentid=7&sectiontree=7,29&itemid=545" rel="nofollow">The Republican Budget Hypocrisy</a>, Rep. Paul Tonko webpage, Apr. 7, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-17"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-17" title="">↑</a> AP, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/04/05/gop-budget-plan-revamp-medicare-medicaid/" class="external text" title="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/04/05/gop-budget-plan-revamp-medicare-medicaid/" rel="nofollow">Budget Plan Would Revamp Medicare, Medicaid</a>, Apr. 5, 2011, FOX News online.</li>

<li id="cite_note-18"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-18" title="">↑</a> Jonathan Cohn, <a href="http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/86346/ryan-rivlin-premium-support-medicare-gdp" class="external text" title="http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/86346/ryan-rivlin-premium-support-medicare-gdp" rel="nofollow">Rivlin's Rebuke and Why It Matters</a>, The New Republic, Apr. 6, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-19"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-19" title="">↑</a> Ezra Klein, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/rivlin-i-dont-support-the-version-of-medicare-premium-support-in-the-ryan-plan/2011/03/10/AFBejOqC_blog.html" class="external text" title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/rivlin-i-dont-support-the-version-of-medicare-premium-support-in-the-ryan-plan/2011/03/10/AFBejOqC_blog.html" rel="nofollow">Rivlin: ‘I don’t support the version of Medicare premium support in the Ryan plan’</a>, Washington Post (blog), Apr. 6, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-20"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-20" title="">↑</a> Quinn Bowman, <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/04/ryans-path-to-prosperity-met-with-immediate-opposition-1.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pbs%2Fnewshour-headlines+%28newshour-headlines%29" class="external text" title="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/04/ryans-path-to-prosperity-met-with-immediate-opposition-1.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pbs%2Fnewshour-headlines+(newshour-headlines)" rel="nofollow">Ryan's 'Path to Prosperity' Met With Immediate Opposition</a>, PBS Newshour, Apr. 5, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-21"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-21" title="">↑</a> Robert Greenstein, <a href="http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3453" class="external text" title="http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3453" rel="nofollow">CBO Report: Ryan Plan Specifies Spending Path That Would Nearly End Most of Government Other Than Social Security, Health Care, and Defense by 2050</a>, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities], Apr. 7, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-SOTU_rebuttal-22">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-SOTU_rebuttal_22-0" title="">23.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-SOTU_rebuttal_22-1" title="">23.1</a> <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20029571-503544.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody" class="external text" title="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20029571-503544.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody" rel="nofollow">GOP State of the Union Response: Full Paul Ryan Text</a>, Jan. 25, 2011 at CBS news, accessed Feb. 4, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-23"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-23" title="">↑</a> Paul Krugman, <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/the-ryan-response/" class="external text" title="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/the-ryan-response/" rel="nofollow">The Ryan Response</a>, Jan. 25, 2011, NY Times Online (blog), accessed Feb. 4, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-private_europe-24">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-private_europe_24-0" title="">25.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-private_europe_24-1" title="">25.1</a> Paul Krugman, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/opinion/28krugman.html" class="external text" title="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/opinion/28krugman.html" rel="nofollow">Their Own Private Europe</a>, NYTimes, Jan. 28, 2011, accessed Feb. 4, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-25"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-25" title="">↑</a> Ezra Klein, <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2011/01/did_republicans_just_take_owne.html" class="external text" title="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2011/01/did_republicans_just_take_owne.html" rel="nofollow">Did Republicans Just Take Ownership of Ryan's Roadmap?</a>, Washington Post, January 21, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-Krugman_Roadmap-26"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-Krugman_Roadmap_26-0" title="">↑</a> Paul Krugman, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/opinion/06krugman.html?r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1295731107-kbm1jWS+SiCiZNctmC3f7w" class="external text" title="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/opinion/06krugman.html?r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1295731107-kbm1jWS+SiCiZNctmC3f7w" rel="nofollow">The Flim-Flam Man</a>, NYTimes, August 5, 2010.</li>

<li id="cite_note-CTJ-27"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-CTJ_27-0" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://ctj.org/pdf/ryanplan2010.pdf" class="external text" title="http://ctj.org/pdf/ryanplan2010.pdf" rel="nofollow">Rep. Ryan's House GOP Budget Plan</a>, Citizens for Tax Justice, March 9, 2010.</li>

<li id="cite_note-wash_post_house_rules-28">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-wash_post_house_rules_28-0" title="">29.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-wash_post_house_rules_28-1" title="">29.1</a> Lori Montgomery, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/05/AR2011010505819.html" class="external text" title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/05/AR2011010505819.html" rel="nofollow">House Republicans adopt new rules for tax and spending legislation</a>, Washington Post, January 5, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-EPI_house_rules-29">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-EPI_house_rules_29-0" title="">30.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-EPI_house_rules_29-1" title="">30.1</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-EPI_house_rules_29-2" title="">30.2</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-EPI_house_rules_29-3" title="">30.3</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-EPI_house_rules_29-4" title="">30.4</a> Andrew Fieldhouse, <a href="http://www.epi.org/analysis_and_opinion/entry/welcome_to_paul_ryans_house_and_budget/" class="external text" title="http://www.epi.org/analysis_and_opinion/entry/welcome_to_paul_ryans_house_and_budget/" rel="nofollow">Welcome to Paul Ryan’s House – and budget</a>, Economic Policy Institute, January 24, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-30"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-30" title="">↑</a> Rep. Jan Schakowsky <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-jan-schakowsky/a-frightening-roadmap-for_b_813013.html" class="external text" title="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-jan-schakowsky/a-frightening-roadmap-for_b_813013.html" rel="nofollow">A Frightening "Roadmap" for America in the Republican Rebuttal to the State of the Union</a>, Huffington Post, January 24, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-open_secrets-31">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-open_secrets_31-0" title="">32.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-open_secrets_31-1" title="">32.1</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-open_secrets_31-2" title="">32.2</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-open_secrets_31-3" title="">32.3</a> <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=Career&cid=N00004357&type=C" class="external text" title="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=Career&cid=N00004357&type=C" rel="nofollow">Paul Ryan's Top Contributors by Industry</a>, Open Secrets, accessed January 24, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-32"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-32" title="">↑</a> John Nichols, <a href="http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/article_b636e4fb-e74f-55e6-aeb6-510fd62f707c.html" class="external text" title="http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/article_b636e4fb-e74f-55e6-aeb6-510fd62f707c.html" rel="nofollow">17.2% insurance rate increase? Thank Paul Ryan</a>, Capitol Times, February 28, 2010.</li>

<li id="cite_note-33"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-33" title="">↑</a> John Nichols, <a href="http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/article_04904082-b1da-11de-aacb-001cc4c03286.html" class="external text" title="http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/article_04904082-b1da-11de-aacb-001cc4c03286.html" rel="nofollow">Michael Moore Exposes Paul Ryan's Bank Bailout Bluster</a>, Capitol Times, October 6, 2009.</li>

<li id="cite_note-34"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-34" title="">↑</a> John Nichols, <a href="http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/editorial/article_e88167ec-2765-11e0-b463-001cc4c002e0.html" class="external text" title="http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/editorial/article_e88167ec-2765-11e0-b463-001cc4c002e0.html" rel="nofollow">Paul Ryan will say whatever Wall Street wants him to say</a>, Capitol Times, January 24, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-35"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-35" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.vote-smart.org/npat.php?can_id=CWI75696" class="external text" title="http://www.vote-smart.org/npat.php?can_id=CWI75696" rel="nofollow">"Project Vote Smart page on Paul Ryan,"</a> Project Vote Smart.</li>

<li id="cite_note-Center_for_Responsive_Politics-36"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Ryan#cite_ref-Center_for_Responsive_Politics_36-0" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2621/" class="external text" title="http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2621/" rel="nofollow">Paul Ryan, Budget Committee</a>, Center for Responsive Politics, November 4, 2010.</li>

</ol>

<h3>External resources</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.house.gov/ryan/" class="external text" title="http://www.house.gov/ryan/" rel="nofollow">Official website</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.ryanforcongress.com" class="external text" title="http://www.ryanforcongress.com" rel="nofollow">Campaign website</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.throwtherascalsout.org/USrep-1-Ryan.htm" class="external text" title="http://www.throwtherascalsout.org/USrep-1-Ryan.htm" rel="nofollow">Critique of Ryan at ThrowTheRascalsOut.org</a></li>

</ul>

<h3>Local blogs and discussion sites</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.wisopinion.com/blogs/xofffiles.html" class="external text" title="http://www.wisopinion.com/blogs/xofffiles.html" rel="nofollow">The Xoff Files</a></li>

</ul>

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