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« Coons Promises Delaware A Clear Choice | Blog Home Page | Senate Dems Begin Year On Right Foot »

Paul Ryan: 'One Guy From Wisconsin'

Rep. Paul Ryan, a sixth term Republican from Wisconsin's 1st District, has become the leading figure in the GOP's argument against the sustainability of President Obama's new budget blueprint.

President Obama praised the recently-turned 40-year-old last week at the House GOP's retreat in Baltimore for bringing forth a solid idea to put the country back on track, and this week -- after the president's budget was introduced -- Ryan has hammered two of the administration's financial experts in hearings on Capitol Hill.

Ryan's biggest complaint about the budget is that it fails to bring the deficit below 3 percent of the GDP, a mark previously cited by OMB Director Peter Orszag as the line of credibility. To get there, the White House has called for a fiscal commission made up of Democrats and Republicans in Congress, as well as administration appointees.

In an interview with RealClearPolitics on Wednesday, Ryan, who is ranking member of the House Budget committee and a senior member on Ways & Means, said he has major concerns about the transparency and fairness of the process.

"We do have legitimate concerns because it's stacked from a partisan basis two-to-one against Republicans," said Ryan. "This is something that's going to be written and introduced after the elections, and then voted on before the next session in a lame duck session of Congress. That doesn't strike me as open government."

Ryan is also unclear why the administration can't get the budget below 3 percent on its own, without help.

"If even Orszag says that it's not a credible budget minus the commission, the deficits are not sustainable using the administration's own methodology," said Ryan. "So we have a budget here that's not credible and not sustainable under the administration's own admission. And that to me is a huge dereliction of duty."

"I'm one guy from Wisconsin with a small staff, and if I can put out a plan that solves our fiscal crisis, surely the head of our government can do the same," he said.

Wisconsin's two Senate seats come up for election in the next two years -- with Sen. Russ Feingold (D) running for re-election this year, and in 2012 Sen. Herb Kohl (D), who turns 75 this weekend, could run again.

Asked about Feingold, Ryan said he thought about challenging him, but decided he could be far more effective this year and next as a top Republican on the Budget and Ways & Means committees than as a Senate candidate and junior senator. However, he thinks Feingold is beatable, with a recent poll showing former governor Tommy Thompson leading in a hypothetical matchup.

"It's a tighter state than you think," Ryan said of Wisconsin, which gave Obama a 14-point win in 2008 but George W. Bush lost it by less than 1 percent in the two previous elections. "I believe that poll -- I think Tommy would beat Russ if he got in the race."

On possibly running for Senate in two years, Ryan said: "Yeah, in the future I may run for something else in Wisconsin."


Read the full transcript of RCP's interview with Rep. Paul Ryan here.