The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Ryan Almost Blows The Reform Trumpet On The Budget

Posted on | December 10, 2013 | 30 Comments

by Smitty

Former GOP VP candidate and all-around Centrist got out the Kazoo of Compromise in attempting to sell his budget deal with Senator Patty Murray:

“In divided government, you don’t always get what you want,” he said. “We eliminate waste. We stop sending checks to criminals. We cut corporate welfare. We start making real changes to these autopilot programs that are the real drivers of our debt.” Twice, he was asked how he would defend the plan to Republicans in the House and to conservative groups.
Answer one: “As a conservative, I think this is a step in the right direction. The deficit will go down more if we pass this than if we did nothing.”
Answer two: “As a conservative, I deal with the situation as it exists. I deal with the way things are, not the way I may want them to be. I’m not going to go a mile in the direction I want to go, but I’ll take a few steps.”

And later:

The condemnations would roll in from the various good-government groups that had been demanding entitlement cuts, and from the conservatives who had attacked the idea of a budget that broke the spending caps. But first, Murray and Ryan shook hands.

For example, Senator Rubio:

“We need a government with less debt and an economy with more good paying jobs, and this budget fails to accomplish both goals, making it harder for more Americans to achieve the American Dream. Instead, this budget continues Washington’s irresponsible budgeting decisions by spending more money than the government takes in and placing additional financial burdens on everyday Americans.
“In the short run, this budget also cancels earlier spending reductions, instead of making some tough decisions about how to tackle our long-term fiscal challenges caused by runaway Washington spending. I voted against sequestration because of its effect on key programs, including the defense budget, but higher spending and more revenue are not the appropriate ways to address that problem.
“The American people should not be asked to choose between a strong military and responsible budgets that encourage job creation and reduce debt. They deserve better than this.”

Maybe Ryan just needs to study some Zappa, and get some of that tenor saxophone in his system, for better justice:
Here is the link to a summary of the deal:

FEDERAL CIVILIAN AND MILITARY RETIREMENT

Federal Retirement

These sections increase federal-employee contributions to their retirement programs by 1.3
percentage points. The proposal affects new employees hired after December 31, 2013 with
less than five years of service.

Annual adjustment of retired pay and retainer pay amounts for retired members of the
Armed Forces under age 62

This provision modifies the annual cost-of-living adjustment for working-age military retirees by
making the adjustments equal to inflation minus one percent. This change would be gradually 3

phased in, with no change for the current year, a 0.25 percent decrease in December 2014, and
a 0.5 percent decrease in December 2015. This would not affect service members who retired
because of disability or injury. Service members would never see a reduction in benefits from
one year to the next.

Awesome. The military reserve retirement I haven’t got yet will gradually evaporate, even as I sneak up on it. Glad I’m not actually including that pension in my retirement planning.

Update: Ryan has an actual interview with Mark Levin on the topic.

Category: Budget

Comments

30 Responses to “Ryan Almost Blows The Reform Trumpet On The Budget”

  1. MrEvilMatt
    December 10th, 2013 @ 7:55 pm

    Ryan Almost Blows The Reform Trumpet On The Budget: by Smitty Former GOP VP candidate and all-around Centrist … http://t.co/40acTi7ajr

  2. CHideout
    December 10th, 2013 @ 7:55 pm

    Ryan Almost Blows The Reform Trumpet On The Budget: by Smitty Former GOP VP candidate and all-around Centrist … http://t.co/FcdVPjREMn

  3. Resista38176897
    December 10th, 2013 @ 7:55 pm

    Ryan Almost Blows The Reform Trumpet On The Budget: by Smitty Former GOP VP candidate and all-around Centrist … http://t.co/8odmKWUIHe

  4. jwbrown1969
    December 10th, 2013 @ 7:55 pm

    Ryan Almost Blows The Reform Trumpet On The Budget: by Smitty Former GOP VP candidate and all-around Centrist … http://t.co/vfb1W3HnRb

  5. Lockestep1776
    December 10th, 2013 @ 7:55 pm

    Ryan Almost Blows The Reform Trumpet On The Budget: by Smitty Former GOP VP candidate and all-around Centrist … http://t.co/AgLTbRHDnc

  6. Citzcom
    December 10th, 2013 @ 7:55 pm

    Ryan Almost Blows The Reform Trumpet On The Budget: by Smitty Former GOP VP candidate and all-around Centrist … http://t.co/b76m5mhg1y

  7. tahDeetz
    December 10th, 2013 @ 8:18 pm

    RT @smitty_one_each: Ryan Almost Blows The Reform Trumpet On The Budget http://t.co/c2r26pjWTx #TCOT

  8. DaveO
    December 10th, 2013 @ 8:46 pm

    Time to break out the Porkbusters flag and take no quarter.

  9. JeffWeimer
    December 10th, 2013 @ 9:07 pm

    Hmm. I opted out of “Redux” with the promise of a full COLA instead of….COLA minus 1. And now I won’t get the age 62 reconciliation I would have gotten.

    I wonder what the guys who took the money and kept Redux get? COLA minus 2?

  10. smitty_one_each
    December 10th, 2013 @ 9:12 pm

    “Time to break out the Porkbusters flag and take no quarter.” — DaveO http://t.co/0B8k7ammWa

  11. smitty_one_each
    December 10th, 2013 @ 9:12 pm

    “Hmm. I opted out of “Redux” with the promise of a full COLA instead of….COLA minus 1. And now I…” — JeffWeimer http://t.co/yZuW3BqJJO

  12. smitty
    December 10th, 2013 @ 9:13 pm

    I’ve always understood that if I get as much as a cup of coffee for any of my retirement money, it’s a blessing.

  13. Bob Belvedere
    December 10th, 2013 @ 11:34 pm

    Paul Ryan went to The Crossroads and…you know the rest of the story.

  14. Professor_Why
    December 11th, 2013 @ 12:09 am

    Ryan Almost Blows The Reform Trumpet On The Budget http://t.co/dnsXQJh3FV

  15. NeoWayland
    December 11th, 2013 @ 1:40 am

    Government is not your friend.

  16. Adjoran
    December 11th, 2013 @ 3:03 am

    Hmmm.

    Boehner and Cantor wanted to avoid a shutdown in September and pass a “clean” CR – which Reid and Obama had already been demanding. That would have etched the sequester cuts in stone for a full year, and changed the discretionary spending baseline going forward FROM NOW ON.

    But some people – not to mention any names, no need to call out people, everyone makes stupid mistakes from time to time – went along with the insane Cruz “defund” plan, which never had a moment’s chance of working at all. Instead, it functioned to give Obama relief from the first sustained period of press scrutiny and criticism of his entire career, over Egypt and Syria and Iran.

    And, yeah, it did let Cruz build a 1.5 million name database of people dumb enough to think his “internet petition against ObamaCare” meant anything or was ever going to be presented to anyone. So there was that.

    The base stampede forced a shutdown and resulted in the short term deal now expiring. As I said at the time, all Cruz and his cult accomplished was giving Democrats another crack at breaking the sequester limits.

    I assure you it brings me no joy to be proven right yet again in this case.

  17. Jim
    December 11th, 2013 @ 3:26 am

    yeah, the guy whose signature idea removing Medicare and replacing it with block grants sure is super-centrist, and not near-Goldwater levels of right-wing.
    the Tea Party whining about RINOs today would be like the Falange in Spain complaining that Franco wasn’t fascist enough, or Communist functionaries in the Soviet Union that Stalin was a wuss when it came to this whole collectivization thing.
    Of course if your definition of RINO is someone who doesn’t want to abolish the Fed, slash a kajillion dollars out of the budget immediately and induce a recession, and impose a flat tax, then I guess everyone is (thankfully) a RINO

  18. Joe Dokes
    December 11th, 2013 @ 5:58 am

    Translation:

    “In a socialistic government, you conservatives won’t ever get what you want, so stop whining to me and get used to it.”

    I said this before and will say it again: I gave up what trust in Ryan the day he let pics be published of him posing while lifting weights. It looked like a session for some cheesy homo-beefcake calendar, and revealed much about this supposedly devout man’s inner workings – not sexually, but in terms of his ego and vanity. For that reason alone, he is not to be trusted. From that point on, no spineless treachery he’s displayed has surprised me.

  19. smitty
    December 11th, 2013 @ 6:38 am

    Bollocks. The worst Cruz did was provide a convenient name to demagogue. Rest assured, when your foe is committed to evil, everything is a weapon.

    Never, EVER apologize for doing what is correct.

  20. smitty
    December 11th, 2013 @ 6:39 am

    Shorter Jim: a RINO supports the status quo.

    And you have the right of it. Or maybe the left. Or both. Centrism leads to such confusion.

  21. Quartermaster
    December 11th, 2013 @ 8:29 am

    “Centrism” leads to such confusion.

    FIFY!

    True centrism was defined by the founders. That what the founders gave us is regarded as right wing extremism says all we need to know about those that like to call themselves centrists today. The people I see claiming the title are all raving loonier leftists who have no acquaintance, nodding or otherwise, of the constitution says, or the meaning of the rule of law.

  22. Quartermaster
    December 11th, 2013 @ 8:30 am

    Adjoran has smoking the wacky backy again. Just ignore him. He gets this way and raves from time to time.

  23. Shorter Ryan: I’m Gonna Kick Tomorrow : The Other McCain
    December 11th, 2013 @ 9:23 am

    […] maybe be that Paul Ryan sincerely believes that Congress is EVER going to reduce spending of its own volition. In the same vein, Obama has […]

  24. ChelieinTX
    December 11th, 2013 @ 10:57 am

    .@YerboutiSheik Zappa reference! MT | Ryan Almost Blows The Reform Trumpet On The Budget http://t.co/sahVmtNfFN

  25. YerboutiSheik
    December 11th, 2013 @ 5:27 pm

    @ChelieinTX HA! Going forward, Hot Rats will be the @RepPaulRyan intro music in my head. @smitty_one_each

  26. YerboutiSheik
    December 11th, 2013 @ 5:30 pm

    RT @ChelieinTX: .@YerboutiSheik Zappa reference! MT | Ryan Almost Blows The Reform Trumpet On The Budget http://t.co/sahVmtNfFN

  27. Shadowboxer50
    December 11th, 2013 @ 5:31 pm

    RT @ChelieinTX: .@YerboutiSheik Zappa reference! MT | Ryan Almost Blows The Reform Trumpet On The Budget http://t.co/sahVmtNfFN

  28. K-Bob
    December 12th, 2013 @ 2:35 am

    CR Resolution Bills are inherently filthy.

    You can’t pass a “clean” one, but that doesn’t stop the testicle-free Republicans from believing it’s as real as the Kos kiddies think AGW is.

  29. K-Bob
    December 12th, 2013 @ 2:36 am

    He wuz robbed: He still has no rhythm.

  30. K-Bob
    December 12th, 2013 @ 2:38 am

    The Kazoo of Compromize

    (better song name spellin’)