(from https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-approved-government-shutdown-fitting-end-paul-ryan-s-disappointing-ncna951176)
". . . in 2017, (Rep. Speaker of the House, Paul) Ryan led the charge for more tax cuts that the Congressional Budget Office estimated will increase deficits by nearly $2 trillion. The tax bill was arguably one of the biggest special-interest giveaways in modern history. Ryan called it his biggest achievement. . ."
(from http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/paul-ryan-warns-if-dems-win-theyll-hold-trump-accountable)
". . . But it’s use of the word “subpoenas” that jumped out at me. . . What the retiring House Speaker seemed to suggest was that Democrats, if given any meaningful authority in Congress, would take steps to hold the president accountable for his actions. . . Or put another way, Ryan wants voters to back Republican candidates in order to ensure that the pro-Trump cover-up can continue on Capitol Hill. “Vote GOP in 2018,” the slogan effectively goes, “We’re against oversight and accountability for Republican presidents.”. . . '
(from http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/11/21863224-boehner-lashes-out-at-conservative-groups-on-budget-deal?lite)
Republican leaders defended a modest budget deal that would maintain
government operations through 2015 amid conservative opposition that
could scuttle the legislation in the House.
House Speaker John
Boehner, R-Ohio, lashed out at conservative advocacy groups that have
encouraged GOP lawmakers to oppose a budget framework unveiled last
night by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.
"They're
using our members and they're using the American people for their own
goals," an animated Boehner told reporters at the Capitol. "This is
ridiculous."
Republican
House Speaker John Boehner delivers a message to advocacy groups
opposing the bipartisan budget framework agreement that was reached this
week.
Ryan and Murray, the top budget officials in their
respective chambers, announced an agreement that would set baseline
spending levels for the 2014 and 2015 fiscal years. The agreement calls
for spending levels slightly above the cap established by the automatic
spending cuts known as the "sequester" through a combination of reforms,
cuts and new, non-tax revenue.
Conservative groups had been girding themselves against the deal
before its details were finalized, mostly because the spending levels
exceed sequester levels. The Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity
and Heritage Action -- each of them well-financed conservative advocacy
groups that hold some sway over Republican primary voters -- have begun
lobbying furiously against the modest government funding agreement.
"By
having a budget agreement that does not raise taxes, that does reduce
the deficit and produces some certainty and prevents government
shutdowns -- we think is a good agreement," Ryan, the architect of the
budget agreement, said after a closed-door meeting with fellow
Republicans.
Of the package's prospects for passage, the 2012 GOP
vice presidential nominee added: "We feel very good at where we are with
our members."
Chuck Todd reports on the budget deal presented by Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray.
The
Republican leadership's struggle to manage its restive conservative
flank is a familiar storyline to any observer of Congress over the past
three years.
. . . person to give credit to the current U.S. Senate, would be ME . . .
. . . but . . .
Signs of progress began to emerge in U.S. budget talks on last Tuesday, as top Senate Democratic negotiator Patty Murray said that she sees a path toward an agreement to ease automatic "sequester" spending cuts.
Murray, asked if there was now a path forward in her talks with her counterpart, Republican Representative Paul Ryan, said: "I believe there is."
The lawmakers are racing against a December 13 deadline for a deal, as Republican resistance to including new tax revenues continued to be a sticking point, according to a Democrat on the negotiating committee headed by Murray and Ryan.
House and Senate negotiators were putting the finishing touches Sunday on what would be the first successful budget accord since 2011, when the battle over a soaring national debt first paralyzed Washington.
The deal expected to be sealed this week on Capitol Hill would not significantly reduce the debt, now $17.3 trillion and rising. It would not close corporate tax loopholes or reform expensive health-care and retirement programs. It would not even fully replace sharp spending cuts known as the sequester, the negotiators’ primary target.
(thanks to Reuters and the Washington Post)
The release of the House GOP budget by Rep. Paul Ryan has sparked a
resurgence of false and misleading claims about the Affordable Care Act,
which the budget seeks to largely repeal. On the Sunday talk shows,
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the head of the Democratic National
Committee, and Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, each
distorted the facts regarding revenues raised in the health care law.
And Ryan wrongly said the law would take money away from Medicare and
ration benefits for seniors.
Johnson said there’s “$1 trillion in middle-income tax increases …
in Obamacare.” But the new revenue generated by the Affordable Care Act
falls mostly on high-income taxpayers, employers who fail to provide
health care to their employees, and health care companies, such as drug
manufacturers, medical device manufacturers and insurance providers.
Wasserman Schultz said “there are not $1 trillion in taxes in
Obamacare,” calling Johnson’s claim “completely untrue.” That’s wrong.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says repealing the law will
“reduce revenues by $1 trillion between 2013 and 2022,” meaning it will
cost taxpayers that much if the law remains on the books.
Ryan said the law’s reductions in the growth of Medicare spending
amounted to “money that was taken from Medicare.” But the Treasury has
to give Medicare the money credited to its trust fund — the money can’t
be taken away.
Ryan also repeated a popular talking point when he said that a
15-member “rationing” board would “determine what kind of benefits
people get.” But the board, tasked with recommending ways to slow the
growth of Medicare spending, can’t restrict benefits, according to the
Affordable Care Act.
. . . or was the debate something like this? . . .
(from http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2012/president/candidates/romney/2012/10/11/fact-check-slips-vice-president-debate/7ZH8sFVuIfG2B7XpZaaozH/story.html)
". . .Vice President Joe Biden has
mangled a heaping helping of facts over the years. Despite being newer
to presidential-campaign politics, Republican Paul Ryan has already
earned something of a reputation Vice President Joe Biden has mangled a heaping helping of facts over the years. Despite being newer to presidential-campaign politics, Republican Paul Ryan has already earned something of a reputation for taking flying leaps past reality.
How'd they do Thursday night?
Here’s a look at some of their claims:
BIDEN, on whether U.S. should have beefed up security at the U.S. Consulate in Libya before the deadly terrorist attack there: ‘‘We weren’t told they wanted more security there.’’
RYAN: ‘‘There were requests for more security.’’
THE FACTS: Ryan is right, judging by testimony from Obama administration officials at a congressional hearing this week.
Charlene R. Lamb, a deputy assistant secretary for diplomatic security, told lawmakers she refused requests for more security in Benghazi, saying the department wanted to train Libyans to protect the consulate. ‘‘Yes, sir, I said personally I would not support it,’’ she said.
Eric Nordstrom, who was the top security official in Libya earlier this year, testified he was criticized for seeking more security. He said conversations he had with people in Washington led him to believe that it was ‘‘abundantly clear we were not going to get resources until the aftermath of an incident. How thin does the ice have to get before someone falls through?’’
___
RYAN: ‘‘We should have spoken out right away when the green revolution was up and starting, when the mullahs in Iran were attacking their people. We should not have called Bashar Assad a reformer when he was turning his Russian-provided guns on his own people.
THE FACTS: Neither President Barack Obama nor anyone else in his administration ever considered the Syrian leader a ‘‘reformer.’’ The oft-repeated charge stems from an interview Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave in March 2011 noting that ‘‘many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer.’’ She did not endorse that view. The comment was widely perceived to be a knock at senators such as John Kerry of Massachusetts who maintained cordial relations with Assad in the months leading up to his crackdown on protesters.
___
BIDEN: ‘‘We went out and rescued General Motors.’’
THE FACTS: Actually, the auto bailout of General Motors and Chrysler began under President George W. Bush. The Obama administration continued and expanded it.
___ RYAN: ‘‘And then they put this new Obamacare board in charge of cutting Medicare each and every year in ways that will lead to denied care for current seniors. This board, by the way, it’s 15 people, the president’s supposed to appoint them next year. And not one of them even has to have medical training.’’
THE FACTS: Ryan is referring to the Independent Payment Advisory Board, created under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law. It has the power to force cuts in Medicare payments to service providers if costs rise above certain levels and Congress fails to act. But it doesn’t look like the board will be cutting Medicare ‘‘each and every year,’’ as Ryan asserts. Medicare costs are currently rising modestly and the government’s own experts project the board’s intervention will not be needed until 2018 and 2019 at the earliest — after Obama leaves office if re-elected to a second term.
___
BIDEN, when asked who would pay more taxes in Obama’s second term: ‘‘People making a million dollars or more.’’
THE FACTS: Obama’s proposed tax increase reaches farther down the income ladder than millionaires. He wants to roll back Bush-era tax cuts for individuals making over $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000.
___
RYAN: ‘‘We cannot allow Iran to gain a nuclear weapons capability. Now, let’s take a look at where we've gone — come from. When Barack Obama was elected, they had enough fissile material — nuclear material — to make one bomb. Now they have enough for five. They’re racing toward a nuclear weapon. They’re four years closer toward a nuclear weapons capability.’’
THE FACTS: Ryan’s claim is misleading. Iran isn’t believed to have produced any of the highly enriched uranium needed to produce even one nuclear weapon, let alone five. That point isn’t even disputed by Israel, whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implored the world at the United Nations last month to create a ‘‘red line’’ at enrichment above 20 percent. Iran would have to enrich uranium at much higher levels to produce a weapon. There is intelligence suggesting that Iran has worked on weapon designs, but not that it has developed a delivery system for any potential nuclear warhead. . . "
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". . . "With so much at stake in this election, both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan should 'go rogue' and not hold back from telling the American people the true state of our economy and national security. They need to continue to find ways to break through the filter of the liberal media to communicate their message of reform," Palin told the conservative Weekly Standard. "America desperately needs to have a 'come to Jesus' moment in discussing our big dysfunctional, disconnected, and debt-ridden federal government.". . . "
My question is, does America need a 'come to married Jesus' moment or a 'come to regular Jesus' moment?
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(from factcheck.org)
". . . Paul Ryan’s acceptance speech at the Republican convention contained
several false claims and misleading statements. Delegates cheered as
the vice presidential nominee:
Accused President Obama’s health care law of funneling money away
from Medicare “at the expense of the elderly.” In fact, Medicare’s chief
actuary says the law “substantially improves” the system’s finances,
and Ryan himself has embraced the same savings.
Accused Obama of doing “exactly nothing” about recommendations of a
bipartisan deficit commission — which Ryan himself helped scuttle.
Claimed the American people were “cut out” of stimulus spending.
Actually, more than a quarter of all stimulus dollars went for tax
relief for workers.
Faulted Obama for failing to deliver a 2008 campaign promise to keep
a Wisconsin plant open. It closed less than a month before Obama took
office.
Blamed Obama for the loss of a AAA credit rating for the U.S.
Actually, Standard & Poor’s blamed the downgrade on the
uncompromising stands of both Republicans and Democrats. . . "
Of course the other side takes advantage of the 'spin' quite frequently as well. When will it end?
(from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/todd-akin-republicans_b_1826617.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false)
". . . Or as it's known on Capitol Hill, supply-side economics. Remember that
magic beans theory? That you actually bring in more revenue by bringing
in less? Ronald Reagan believed it. But at least back in the '80s it was
new. The thing is, we tried it, and it doesn't work. Yet, Paul Ryan,
who every shit-for-brains pundit in America keeps telling us is a
"serious" guy, still believes in the supply-side theory. All the
Republicans do. They all believe in something that both science and
history have shown to be pure fantasy. The symbol for their party
shouldn't be an elephant -- it should be a unicorn. . . "
". . . The grown-up answer is: identify problems scientifically, prioritize and
solve. The Republican answer is: there isn't a problem. And anyone who
tells you different is a liar who hates America. . . "
". . . Next week in Tampa the Republicans must admit that the difference
between a GOP convention and Comic-Con is that the people at Comic-Con
have a much firmer grasp of reality.. . "
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