A day after Rep. Paul Ryan joined the Republican ticket, President Obama welcomed him to the campaign as "the ideological leader of the Republicans in Congress" and said he completely disagrees with the economic plans advanced by the GOP running mates.
“I want to congratulate Congressman Ryan. I know him. I welcome him to the race,” Obama told about 1,000 people at a fundraiser at the Bridgeport Art Center in Chicago.
He called Ryan -- a seven-term Wisconsin congressman who is chairman of the House Budget Committee -- “a decent man, “a family man” and “an articulate spokesman” for presumptive nominee Mitt Romney’s vision. "But it's a vision that I fundamentally disagree with," the president said, drawing cheers.
"My opponent and Congressman Ryan and their allies in Congress, they all believe that if we just get rid of more regulations on big corps and we give more tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans, it will lead to jobs and prosperity for evybody else," Obama said. "That’s what they’re proposing. That’s where they’ll take us if they win. And this is not speculation. It’s on their website. It’s embodied in the budget that the House Republicans voted for repeatedly."
That would be Ryan's controversial budget, which would cut taxes and sharply curb spending on Medicare, student loans, and a host of other domestic programs.
Obama followed his allusion to the Ryan budget with a reference to what he called "the centerpiece" of Romney's plan -- "a new $5 trillion tax cut, a lot of it going to the wealthiest Americans. This is on top of the Bush tax cut."
He added, encompassing Ryan as well as Romney now in a line he's used before: "They have tried to sell us this trickle-down fairy dust before. And guess what. It did not work."
Get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox. Sign up for National Journal's morning alert, Wake-Up Call, and afternoon newsletter, The Edge. Subscribe here.
Leave A Comment