Posts

Ryan: No Need to Worry About Another Shutdown (+video)

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Gage SkidmoreHouse Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Tuesday that the country doesn’t need to worry about another government shutdown in January when the current stopgap spending bill runs out.

The government shutdown lasted for 16 days in October, after Republicans demanded that President Obama defund his signature healthcare law.

To avoid another shutdown, Ryan said either he and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) would strike a budget deal or Congress would pass a stopgap keeping existing spending levels.

“Either of those two scenarios will prevail, and we will not have a government shutdown,” he said at the Wall Street Journal annual CEO Council. “We will keep the government funding at the current level if need be.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Paul Ryan Co-Writing Bill Legalizing America’s Illegal Immigrants

/9 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AFPHouse Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is writing a bill that would grant legal status to America’s at least 11 million illegal immigrants, The New York Times reports.

“Republican Representatives Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin and Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida have been working on legislation that includes a process by which immigrants here illegally could ‘get right with the law’ and eventually become citizens,” the Times’ Eric Lipton and Ashley Parker wrote on Friday in a piece about immigration reform.

While the Times reported here, and Politico reported on Friday morning, that the Speaker and other House GOP leadership figures are privately saying they do not expect a vote on immigration measures this year, publicly they say they want to hold a vote on something on the floor of the House.

Technically, there are only 19 legislative days left in 2013’s calendar for the House, so doing so would be difficult. But it appears, according to liberal blogger Greg Sargent, that the public appearance of immigration reform being “dead” may be a coordinated leak system from the House GOP leadership in order to distract conservatives.

Read more from this story HERE.

Democrats Pin Their Hopes for Obama’s Amnesty Bill on Rep. Paul Ryan

/6 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Gage SkidmoreDemocrats doggedly pursuing a far-reaching immigration bill are counting on help from Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s running mate last year and an unlikely candidate for delivering the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s second-term agenda.

Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman who is frequently mentioned in the GOP lineup of possible 2016 presidential candidates, stands apart from many fellow House Republicans in favoring a way out of the shadows for the 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. in violation of the law.

He casts sweeping overhaul as a necessity to ensure both economic and national security — a fitting argument for an acolyte of Jack Kemp, the late Republican congressman and 1996 vice presidential candidate who backed an ill-fated effort in 2006 to overhaul the immigration system.

‘‘Paul Ryan says we cannot have a permanent underclass of Americans, that there needs to be a pathway to citizenship,’’ says Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who has been working relentlessly on immigration legislation. ‘‘He is my guiding light. I know I get him in trouble every time I say it.’’

Senior White House aides often mention the Wisconsin Republican as crucial to the prospects for legislation this year, hoping the Republican with impeccable conservative credentials will sway recalcitrant House members. Ryan also is a reminder of two other powerful forces backing an overhaul of immigration laws — the Catholic Church and business.

Read more from this story HERE.

Paul Ryan Has Been Working Behind the Scenes on Bipartisan Amnesty Deal Since Last Year

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: GARY CAMERONTwo weeks after the end of his failed vice-presidential bid, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was already thinking ahead to another big fight: immigration reform. And he was thinking about it in a bipartisan way.

Ryan ran into his old friend, Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), and urged him to restart his effort to get a comprehensive immigration package through Congress. Ryan’s arguments stemmed from a religious and economic foundation, not from the huge political liability the issue had become for the Republican Party during the 2012 presidential campaign.

“You’re a Catholic; I’m a Catholic; we cannot have a permanent underclass of Americans exploited in America,” Ryan told Gutierrez, according to the Democrat’s recollection of the November discussion.

Given those sentiments, and the drubbing the GOP ticket took among Latino voters, supporters of an immigration overhaul expected Ryan to emerge as the House’s most prominent public voice on the issue.

Instead, as the issue has grown more contentious with the recent passage of a sprawling 1,200-page Senate bill, Ryan has worked quietly behind the scenes, declining to become the public face of the issue and leaving the effort without any prominent sponsors among the House GOP leadership.

Read more from this story HERE.

Mark Levin Goes Off on Pro-Amnesty RINO’s Including Jeb Bush, Karl Rove, Others (+video)

/13 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

By Jeff Poor. On his Friday radio show, conservative talker Mark Levin challenged support from for this current of immigration reform coming from prominent Republicans, particularly Jeb Bush and Karl Rove.

Levin, author of “Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America,” began his attack by arguing some members of the Republican Party make policy gestures without mentioning the U.S. Constitution.

“It amazes me how few Republicans in elected office actually talk about the Constitution,” Levin said. “They have no more respect for it, no more concern about its boundaries and limits than the left. That’s why I say they’re neo-statist.” Read more from this story HERE.

_____________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Marco Rubio: We need to legalize immigrants so they can pay for border security

By Byron York. Why is it necessary to legalize the roughly 11 million currently-illegal immigrants in the U.S. before newly enhanced border security and internal enforcement measures are in place? Sen. Marco Rubio, the leading Republican on the Senate’s Gang of Eight, says part of the reason is that the federal government can’t afford to secure the border on its own and needs financial help from the immigrants themselves, in the form of fines paid when they are legalized.

Rubio made the statement during a radio interview after he voted against an amendment from Republican Sen. Charles Grassley that would have put off legalization until after the border is secure — a position supported by majorities of voters across the political spectrum. Host Andrea Tantaros asked Rubio why he opposed something that was important “to so many in the Republican party?”

Rubio’s first reason was that the U.S. has no other choice than to legalize the 11 million. Enhancing security first would take an estimated four years, and Rubio declared, “We cannot wait another four years with 11 million people living in this country illegally without knowing who they are or why they’re here.” Read more from this story HERE.

Amnesty’s Message: Send Us Your High School Dropouts

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: ros k @ getfunky_paris

For much of our history, the sheer difficulty of getting to America and surviving here ensured the nation was stocked with immigrants who represented a sort of natural elite.

No, these immigrants did not come from foreign aristocracies, nor need they come from any particular location, ethnic group or profession.

But before Franklin Roosevelt began establishing an American welfare state, and before a series of Roosevelt’s successors decided they would make no serious effort to secure our national borders, immigrants to America had at least two things in common: The ability to get to a place that was hard to reach and the ability to survive there on their own.

Now America is becoming a magnet for high-school dropouts.

That is why the report that the Congressional Budget Office produced this month for House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan ought to become a focus of national debate, as members of both parties in Congress work with President Obama to try to give foreign nationals living here illegally a way to become citizens.

Read more from this story HERE.

Changing With the Times: Paul Ryan Now Backs Gay Adoption

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APGOP Rep. Paul Ryan reportedly has changed his views and now says he believes gay couples should be able to adopt children.

Asked at a town-hall-style meeting Monday in Wisconsin about the issue, Ryan said he would “vote differently these days” and still opposes gay marriage. In 1999, the congressman voted in favor of banning same-sex couples in the District of Columbia from adopting.

“I do believe that if there are children who are orphans who do not have a loving person or couple … I think if a person wants to love and raise a child, they ought to be able to do that. Period. I would vote that way,” Ryan says, according to video posted on the liberal Think Progress website.

Read more from this story HERE.

Paul Ryan Energizes Pro-Life Advocates with Speech Against Abortion

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: LifeNews

Last night, Wisconsin Congressman and former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan energized pro-life advocates with a rousing speech against abortion that provided hope for ending the travesty someday.

In his speech at the Susan B. Anthony List gala, Ryan urged pro-lifers to be active in the battle to change hearts and minds — setting up political change down the road.

“Here’s my thinking: We need to articulate a vision — one that can attract a broad coalition,” Ryan said. “To advance the pro-life cause, we need to work with people who consider themselves pro-choice — because our task isn’t to purge our ranks. It’s to grow them.”

He urged pro-life advocates to never abandon the cause of life or accept and political truce on the issue of abortion and protecting unborn children under law.

“Our critics say we should abandon our pro-life beliefs. But that would only demoralize our voters,” he told the audience. “It’s an odd strategy, I think: the cynical ploy followed by the thumping defeat. Besides, you’re proving the critics wrong. You’re helping pro-life leaders win races across the country. You’re showing that “what convinces is conviction,” he will say.

Read more from this story HERE.

Senators Paul, Cruz, and Lee Join Democrats to Vote Against Ryan Budget

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: breitbart

Earlier this week, GOP Rep. Mick Mulvaney offered the Senate Democrat budget proposal for a vote in the House. The budget plan was defeated, with 35 Democrats crossing the aisle to oppose it. Thursday night, Dem Sen. Patty Murray responded by offering Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget for a vote in the Senate. The measure failed, 40-59, with 5 GOP Senators joining in opposition. Interestingly, among these 5 were Sens. Paul, Cruz and Lee.

Sens. Paul, Cruz and Lee are providing the nucleus of an emerging conservative opposition in the Senate. While there are other conservatives in the GOP caucus, these three are establishing themselves as reliable voices to articulate the conservative opposition to an ever encroaching government.

They are becoming skilled at identifying issues to make a stand on principle. I have no doubt that if their votes could have pushed the Ryan budget into passing, they would have voted for it, as it is likely the best option on the table. Frankly, however, the Ryan budget doesn’t go as far as conservatives would prefer. A vote against an amendment that was already going to be defeated was a good moment to stand on that principle.

Read more from this story HERE.

Paul Ryan’s Ax Isn’t Sharp Enough

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Sam Island

THE latest budget proposal by Representative Paul D. Ryan, called “The Path to Prosperity,” is anything but. It fails to seriously address runaway government spending, the most pressing problem facing our nation. I cannot vote for something that would trick the American people into thinking that Congress is fixing Washington’s spending problem, when in actuality we’d just be allowing it to continue without end.

Supporters of the “Path to Prosperity,” including many of my fellow Republicans, say that we have to stop spending money we don’t have, an idea I promote every chance I get. But under the proposal by Mr. Ryan of Wisconsin, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, the federal government would continue to spend more than it will this year.

Spending would grow by an average of 3.4 percent annually, only slightly less than the rate under President Obama’s plan, which is 5 percent a year. After 10 years — Mr. Ryan’s target for eliminating the deficit — the “Path to Prosperity” will have spent $41 trillion, when the president’s plan would allow spending of $46 trillion. My party’s de facto position has become “we’re increasing spending, but not as much as the other guy.” That’s not good enough.

Just reducing growth in spending does almost nothing. We have to dig deeper and make profound cuts now. We cannot continue to assume that future Congresses will do our dirty work for us.

We ought to get rid of certain federal departments and agencies, stopping only to shift the role of governing back to the states, where it belongs. The Departments of Education and Energy, for example, are two bloated bureaucracies that we don’t need; their core functions would be absorbed by the states through block grants, saving taxpayers at least $500 billion over the next decade.

Read more from this story HERE.