Rep. Paul Ryan: Voting record conservative, with notable exceptions

Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republicans’ presumptive vice-presidential nominee, has amassed a very conservative voting record during his seven terms in Congress, including repeated votes against spending bills, unemployment-benefit extensions and most of President Obama’s agenda.

But he also voted for some of the Bush administration’s most controversial accomplishments, including the No Child Left Behind education bill and the 2003 Medicare prescription drug law that added a new entitlement to the government’s books without finding a way to pay for it.

He also voted for the Wall Street bailout in 2008, which has become a flash point for both ends of the political spectrum.

His chief breaks with most Republicans usually came on spending bills, where he regularly voted against his party leadership when they controlled the chamber before 2007. In 1999, he voted against expanding the Peace Corps, and voted against expanding debt relief to impoverished nations.

Mr. Ryan voted for the Patriot Act and later voted to preserve federal authorities’ ability under that law to seek library records in their investigations — a major test point for the legislation.

But he’s also had some more pointed dissents, including being one of relatively few House Republicans to vote for a bill that would have outlawed workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, the Employment Nondiscrimination Act.

Read more from this story HERE.