Paul Ryan Threatens President Obama and America With the Debt Limit

Paul Ryan showed his true colors today by threatening the economy, and confirming that Republicans will demanding ransom in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.

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Transcript:

WALLACE: You say, and quite rightly so, and I think it’s a big accomplish, you removed the threat of government shutdowns for almost the next two years.

On the other hand, we’ve got a debt limit crisis —

RYAN: That’s right.

WALLACE: — which is going to come up in the next couple of months, February and March, people are saying.

Should Republicans risk a default crisis?

As you know, the president will say, well, you’re going to send the country into a default by demanding more progress on spending and the deficit or do you just cave there and say, hey, look, we’re going to just kick this can down the road and focus on ObamaCare?

RYAN: Look, one — one step at a time, Chris. We — Patty and I knew that we weren’t going to solve —

WALLACE: Patty Murray, your —

RYAN: Yes, Patty Murray. I’m sorry.

WALLACE: Yes.

RYAN: Patty Murray and I knew we weren’t going to solve every problem like the debt limit problem. So we sought to find common ground to solve this problem, this problem being a shutdown possibly in January and then another shutdown possibly in October.

And we got our principles established here.

(CROSSTALK)

RYAN: We’ve got cut the deficit —

(CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: Sir, I understand, but the question is, are you going to demand more in return for raising the deficit?

RYAN: We as a caucus, along with our Senate counterparts, are going to meet and discuss what it is we want to get out of the debt limit. We don’t want nothing out of this debt limit. We’re going to decide what it is we can accomplish out of this debt limit fight.

One of the problems or concerns I have with the debt limit is we don’t know when it’s going to hit.

Jack Lew, the treasury secretary, has ultimately discretion on when this could occur. So, the timing of this is very much in doubt.

So we’re going to meet in our retreats after the — after the holidays and discuss exactly what it is we’re going to try and get for this.

There’s the Paul Ryan that we all know. For a man who is obsessed with makers and takers, Ryan spends a lot of time dreaming of how he can get something extra for doing his job. It turns out all of the bipartisanship surrounding the budget deal was just for show. The real prize for Ryan and the House Republicans is the debt ceiling.

Rep. Ryan was doing his song and dance about our long term debt problem, which translated means Social Security and Medicare. Republicans have already gutted food stamps, energy assistance, and much of the safety net, but it’s Social Security and Medicare that they’ve wanted to take apart all along.

Ryan and the Republicans are back to issuing threats against the economy. I am not sure what Democrats were trying to accomplish with the budget deal. Except for avoiding a government shutdown next year and getting a small percentage of the sequester lifted, they didn’t get much.

Democrats cut a deal so that they could end up back where they started. Republicans are plotting against the economy, and President Obama will have to stand up and say no.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association