Republican backers of Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) entitlement-slashing shadow budget may soon be coming out of the shadows.
Appearing on Morning Joe today, Ryan was asked how many Republicans support his budget roadmap, which he says would cut the deficit by slashing Social Security and Medicare benefits and by creating private accounts and a voucher system. (At least one expert says it might not eliminate deficits at all).
“I don’t know the answer to that question, but I think we will find out in the near future because we’re going to have to go down that path,” Ryan said, adding that “these programs are growing themselves right into extinction.”
“We’re going to find out who believes in these things in the near future.”
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Ryan also said he’d push his roadmap proposals as part of his service on President Obama’s bipartisan debt commission.
Republican leaders have backed away from Ryan’s budget plan, insisting repeatedly it’s not their official plan because they know better than to support something that’s so politically supercharged in a midterm election year. TPM has been putting GOPers on the record on where they stand, and surprisingly few of them are willing to say if they’d vote for the Ryan budget even though they supported former President George W. Bush’s privatization proposal in 2005.
On Morning Joe, the congressman also knocked past Republican majorities for their spending — while needling the current Democratic majority in Congress for its spending.
Spending’s the problem. Yeah, Republicans, we were the amateur big spenders when we were in charge. Now we’ve got the professionals running the place. We’ve got to focus on spending.
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Late Update: This post has been edited since it was first published.