For some reason, freshman Republicans in the House aren’t embracing Paul Ryan’s Roadmap for America’s Future. I’m somewhat surprised by this, as it’s the only solid proposal out there to get the country’s fiscal house in order.
This is what Fred Barnes had to say about the roadmap last summer.
The full plan—“A Road Map for America’s Future”—is outlined in a formidable, 87-page document. It would give everyone a refundable tax credit to buy health insurance, allow individual investment accounts to be carved out of Social Security, reduce the six income tax rates to two (10 and 25 percent), and replace the corporate tax (35 percent) with a business consumption tax (8.5 percent). And that’s not the half of it.
As ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, Ryan was able to get the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to run the numbers in his plan. CBO concluded the plan would “make the Social Security and Medicare programs permanently solvent [and] lift the growing debt burden on future generations, and hold federal taxes to no higher than 19 percent of GDP.” Pretty impressive results, I’d say.
The Road Map does one more thing. It would give Republicans an agenda if they gain control of the House or Senate in the midterm election—or a mandate if they win both. “What’s the point of winning an election if you don’t have a mandate?” Ryan asks.
He doesn’t expect a mandate in 2010. “I need to make sure these ideas survive this election,” he says, and set the stage for “the most ideological, sea-changing election in our lifetime” in 2012. Merely survive in 2010? The Road Map can do better than that. How about thrive?
I read it, and thought it included a lot of good ideas. It wasn’t just Fred Barnes who endorsed the plan, either. After the shellacking the Democrats took at the polls in November, one can’t really argue that Republicans don’t have a mandate to get the budget under control. That’s why it’s so curious that House Republicans are so ambivalent about the only plan out there to bring some fiscal sanity back to Washington, DC.
On Capitol Hill, praise for the Wisconsin Republican comes easy and often, full-scale endorsement of the roadmap less so. Most leading first-year legislators temper their words when discussing the plan. “I think it’s a good start; it’s not perfect,” says Rep. Allen West (R., Fla.). “We have to be able to be flexible.”
Rep. Kristi Noem (R., S.D.), a member of the House leadership team, tells us she likes portions of the roadmap, such as Ryan’s caps on spending, but “beyond that, I haven’t explored too far.”
Rep. Steve Chabot (R., Ohio), who returned to Congress this month after losing his seat in 2008, takes a similar tack. “We are still studying it, what the implications might be for the budget,” he says. “I’m not ready to announce a position. I’m sure there are parts of it that we agree with — probably the vast majority of it — but there may be some things we have problems with. We need more time.”
Rep. Patrick Meehan, a freshman from Pennsylvania, is “reserving judgment.” So is Rep. Jon Runyan (R., N.J.). “It’s something we are digging through slowly,” he says. “I’m not prepared to make a statement on that.” Others point out that they like Ryan’s push to simplify the tax code and his focus on the debt, but become evasive when pressed for their opinion of its adjustments to Medicare and Social Security.
Rep. Sean Duffy (R., Wis.), a freshman and a close friend of Ryan’s, understands the nervous response by many in his class. “This is Paul Ryan’s vision,” he explains. “Many members in the freshman class would be able to tell you a few good things about Paul’s roadmap, but could they all go out there and defend it? No.”
If you think Paul Ryan’s roadmap is at least a good start in turning this country around, give your representative a call. You can find his or her contact information here. Hey, we’ve got to start somewhere. If they aren’t going to endorse Ryan’s plan, they should at least come out with an alternative. If not, doesn’t it suggest they aren’t really serious about tackling the issues?
Tags: america, embrace, house, Paul Ryan, republicans, roadmap, shun
Perhaps the new Republicans are taking the Washington DC shock one step at a time. None of them has had an opportunity to get a complete lay of the land, so to speak, in their Conference. Right now, they are thinking their leader is Boehner. Until Boehner has asked the newbies to read and consider it, they are hanging back from taking a position. And rightly so, their positions are at stake……meaning that anything they say will be used by the Dems in a vicious manner. It has definitely surprised me that Paul Ryan has been put on a pedestal for the last year. I would like some background on how he arrived at this plan. After all, he is from the state that is the birthplace of socialism in the US. Gov. Tommy Thompson couldn’t bring Wisconsin into the fold for Bush in 2000, so Florida happened. There is too much mystery surrounding this plan.
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[...] possibility. Ryan, of course, is closely identified with a budgetary approach (his famous 2010 “Road Map”) that includes significant changes in Social Security and Medicare. Perhaps consideration of what [...]
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[...] possibility. Ryan, of course, is closely identified with a budgetary approach (his famous 2010 “Road Map”) that includes significant changes in Social Security and Medicare. Perhaps consideration of what [...]
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