Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Paul Ryan Wants to Shut Down the
Government, Permanently
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) could be the next Speaker of the
House. (Photo: M. Scott Mahaskey/Politico)
Everyone has seen the news stories about how Representative Paul
Ryan, the leading candidate to be the next Speaker of the House, is a budget
wonk. That should make everyone feel good, since we would all like to think a
person in this position understands the ins and outs of the federal budget. But
instead of telling us about how much Ryan knows about the budget (an issue on
which reporters actually don't have insight), how about telling us what Ryan
says about the budget?
It is possible to say things about Ryan says, since he has said
a lot on this topic and some of it is very clear. In addition to wanting to
privatize both Social Security and Medicare, Ryan has indicated that he
essentially wants to shut down the federal government in the sense of taking
all of the money for the non-military portion of the budget.
This fact is one that is easy to find if a reporter is willing
to do five minutes of research. Ryan directed the Congressional Budget Office
to score his budget plans back in 2012. The score
of his plan showed the non-Social Security, non-Medicare portion of the federal
budget shrinking to 3.5 percent of GDP by 2050 (page 16).
This number is roughly equal to current spending on the
military. Ryan has indicated that he does not want to see the military budget
cut to any substantial degree. That leaves no money for the Food and Drug
Administration, the National Institutes of Health, The Justice Department,
infrastructure spending or anything else. Following Ryan's plan, in 35 years we
would have nothing left over after paying for the military.
Just to be clear, this was not some offhanded gaffe where Ryan
might have misspoke. He supervised the CBO analysis. CBO doesn't write-down
numbers in a dark corner and then throw them up on their website to embarrass
powerful members of Congress. As the document makes clear, they consulted with
Ryan in writing the analysis to make sure that they were accurately capturing
his program.
So what percent of people in this country know that the next
Speaker of the House would like to permanently shut down most of the
government? What percent even of elite educated policy types even know this
fact? My guess is almost no one, we just know he is a policy wonk.
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"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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