August Campaign Bytes: Paul Ryan Edition
Early Saturday morning, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney announced his choice for vice presidential running mate. He selected Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan. Ryan is currently in his seventh term as a member of the House of Representatives for Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional district. Ryan is also the chairman of the House Budget Committee and a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
The Budget Committee and the Ways and Means Committee have much control over how federal government money is assigned and spent. In this role, Ryan has become well known as a Republican with a definite view of how the national government should best spend money and raise money through taxes.
The Path to Prosperity Plan
Earlier in President Obama’s first term, Ryan led a portion of the Republican Party that opposed Obama and the Democrats’ federal budget plan. Ryan’s Path to Prosperity plan blamed much of the nation’s federal debt and funding problems on a growing amount of entitlement programs. These programs include some of the nation’s largest programs, such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Ryan’s plan to fix the government’s money problems is to redefine who can use these sorts of entitlement programs, dropping the total number of people who could receive these entitlement payments.
These changes would, according to Ryan and other Republicans, reduce the amount of money that the government must spend each year. Thus, they claim, it would make it easier to balance the nation’s budget, reducing the amount of money that citizens must pay in yearly taxes.
Why Pick Ryan?
Traditionally, the choice for a vice presidential running mate helps “balance the ticket,” or help the presidential candidate broaden appeal to a different segment of the electorate that would then propel them to the White House. Though it is only a few days into the Romney/Ryan partnership, the speculation seems to be that Ryan’s strong conservative background on taxes, federal spending, and reducing the growing size of government will make him appealing to many Republicans or members of the conservative Tea Party.
After learning more about Paul Ryan, compare him to Vice President Joe Biden. Make a list of important facts and political positions for each man. How much is different? How much is the same?
