Paul Ryan Supports Stimulus (But Only When a Republican President is in Office)

**Seti-Alpha 5** · 08-19-2012, 01:40 PM

This really needs no introduction. I'll let Mr. Ryan speak for himself. 02/14/2002

**T'Pol** · 08-19-2012, 02:38 PM

He redefines hypocrisy. Here's another example:

Neither Obama nor his health care law literally "cut" a dollar from the Medicare program’s budget. Rather, the health care law instituted a number of changes to reduce the growth of Medicare costs.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan's plan to turn Medicare into a voucher system is not sitting well with seniors, so he is resorting to launching false attacks on President Obama’s plan.

Here are the facts:

Before Obamacare, the government overpaid the private insurance plans in Medicare Advantage. The Medicare Trustees said those extra payments “resulted in higher Medicare costs overall and higher premiums for all Part B beneficiaries, not just those enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans.” That’s right—everyone paid higher prices so Medicare could give subsidies to private insurance companies.

All the health care law did was get rid of those extra subsidies—saving $156 billion over 10 years, according to the CBO. Because of this and other reforms, people with Medicare will save $4,200 over a decade.

Interestingly enough Paul Ryan protected those same cuts in his own budget.

Stephanie Cutter

**Seti-Alpha 5** · 08-19-2012, 03:52 PM

He does indeed take the prize when it comes to hypocrisy.

I wonder if his God, Jesus, (who threw the money exchangers out of the temple calling them thieves while knocking over tables in a rage) would agree with the Russian atheist Ayn Rand.
Paul Ryan has had a life-long obsessive, worship-like love affair with her. Yet she is the polar opposite of what Jesus stands for and his principles.

Ryan implemented a mandatory requirement for all of his new interns and staff to read her books. He recently denounced her (just April of this year). He claims that he didn't know she was an atheist. His policies certainly reflect her teachings so one can only speculate that he denounced her for political reasons.

**RAINIER** · 08-19-2012, 06:18 PM

In a television interview with WCPO Cincinnati, Republican vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) directly contradicted an Associated Press report that said he had sought stimulus funds for his congressional district, while at the same time publicly decrying the bill as a "wasteful spending spree."

"No, I never asked for stimulus," Ryan said when questioned on reports that he had sought funds.

Ryan's statement directly counters the evidence of four letters obtained by the AP which the congressman wrote to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, praising energy programs supported by the stimulus and requesting funds for initiatives in his district.

Ryan's private praise for Department of Energy programs and his written requests for stimulus funds contradict not only his public criticism of the 2009 stimulus bill, but also many of the budget priorities he has laid out, including cuts to investments in green technologies.

The Boston Globe reported that in 2010, after writing several letters to federal departments requesting stimulus funds for his district, Ryan told a caller on Boston talk radio show WBZ Nightside with Dan Rea that he would never vote against the stimulus bill and "then write to the government to ask them to send us money."

Ryan went on to state that he "did not request any stimulus money."

Raising further questions about the vice presidential candidate's claim today that he never sought stimulus money, Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck referred AP to previous explanations by the congressman's office that by requesting funds Ryan was simply "providing a legitimate constituent service."

"If Congressman Ryan is asked to help a Wisconsin entity applying for existing federal grant funds, he does not believe flawed policy should get in the way of doing his job," Ryan's office said when first asked about the funding requests by the Wall Street Journal in 2010.

Ryan responded Thursday night with a statement that said the letters "should have been handled differently."

"After having these letters called to my attention I checked into them, and they were treated as constituent service requests in the same way matters involving Social Security or Veterans Affairs are handled," Ryan said in the statement.

"This is why I didn't recall the letters earlier," he added. "But they should have been handled differently, and I take responsibility for that. Regardless, it's clear that the Obama stimulus did nothing to stimulate the economy, and now the president is asking to do it all over again."
Alex Becker

http://www.boston.com/politicalintel...L3J/story.html

**T'Pol** · 08-19-2012, 06:32 PM

02/17/2010
Today marks the one year anniversary of President Obama signing into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus. As the economy continued to crater after President Bush left office, Obama’s stimulus sought to provide tax cuts for 95% of working Americans, funds to buoy cash-strapped state governments, new construction and infrastructure projects, and other programs to create jobs, retrain workers, and promote economic activity throughout the country. In December, the Congressional Budget Office reported that the stimulus had successfully created up to 1.6 million jobs, and today, a report shows the Recovery Act will ultimately create 2.5 million jobs. Even the conservative American Enterprise Institute found that the stimulus had boosted the U.S. economy by 4 percent.

House Republican leaders have fought to maintain partisan unity in their effort to kill the stimulus. And they were largely successful. Every single Republican in the House and every single Republican in the Senate — with the exception of Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Susan Collins (R-ME), and then-Republican Sen. Arlen Specter — voted against the Recovery Act. By drawing a sharp distinction between Obama and the GOP, Republican leaders gambled on casting the stimulus as a failure in order to win elections in 2010. In a coordinated effort, Republicans have used every opportunity to attack the stimulus for allegedly failing to create “a single job.”

Last month, President Obama admonished Republicans for going to “ribbon cuttings for the same projects that you voted against.” It’s true: Last year, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) appeared at a ribbon cutting event for GetAbout Columbia’s MKT Plaza, a pedestrian walking and recreation area funded by the stimulus. (See picture at top right.)

ThinkProgress has investigated opponents of the Recovery Act, reporting throughout the year that many of the lawmakers who tried to kill the legislation have been returning to their home states to claim credit for popular stimulus programs. In a new research report, ThinkProgress finds that over half of the GOP caucus, 110 lawmakers — from the House and Senate — are guilty of stimulus hypocrisy. Among some of the key findings:

– Top Republican Senate Recruits Are Stimulus Hypocrites: As ThinkProgress reported, Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE), a candidate for Senate, touted over $5 million in stimulus programs he voted to kill. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), the GOP nominee for Senate in Illinois, signed a letter urging Gov. Pat Quinn to provide “Recovery Act (ARRA) funding to expand the Illinois Community College Sustainability Network.”

– GOP Leadership Leads The Way In Hypocrisy: Although he regularly slams the stimulus as a waste while in DC, McConnell has returned to Kentucky to take credit for stimulus programs, even taking time to request more funds. ThinkProgress attended two job fairs held by Cantor, where we found dozens of employers able to hire directly because of the stimulus. Indeed, even Boehner’s office released a statement boasting that the stimulus will create “much needed jobs.”

– The Audacity Of Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds: Many opponents of the stimulus have been quite brazen with their ability to try to claim credit for the program. For instance, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) spent the morning of July 28th railing against the stimulus, yelling “Where’s the stimulus package? Where’s the jobs?” on the House floor. On the same day of his rant, Kingston’s office sent out multiple press releases bragging that he had secured hundreds of thousands in stimulus funds to hire additional police officers in his district. Other stimulus opponents, like Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) — who has called the stimulus a “trillion dollar debt bill” — have printed out jumbo-sized ceremonial stimulus checks to present to local communities to try to garner positive press.

Individually, over half of the entire Republican caucus has hailed nearly every aspect of the stimulus as a success — from infrastructure funds, to food programs, to education grants. But politically, admitting its success might harm the GOP’s chances in November. So with Republicans fixated on winning politically, they have focused on deceiving the public by calling the stimulus a failure, while pretending successful programs aren’t stimulus funded.

Lee Fang