Following Sen. Marco Rubio’s Republican response to Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, Republican Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the 2012 GOP nominee for the vice presidency, gave a somewhat positive critique of Obama’s remarks to Jake Tapper on CNN’s wrap-up coverage.
“In some areas I think he was productive,” Ryan said. “I thought on comprehensive immigration reform, I thought his words were measured. I think the tone and the words he took were productive on that front. He listed a laundry list of new programs that ought to be created. He said they won’t cost another dime. The problem is we’re already a trillion in the hole. He dramatically overstated the deficit reduction of his administration without counting any spending that had occurred during his administration.”
“So I think he underplayed they enormity of our task before us on a debt crisis, on deficit reduction, which is really threatening to our economy,” he continued. “So I think what you got was kind of a traditional laundry list, I guess I would say, from a liberal perspective, of new programs and things like that, without really talking about what these will really cost and how it affects our economy.”
On immigration, Ryan praised Obama for his “measured tone.”
“I think, you know, when you have — when you are in the legislative arena and we’re trying to get a comprehensive bipartisan agreement here, the words he uses matters,” Ryan said. “And he used what I thought was a measured tone, which gives me a sense that he is trying to get something done. So he used measured words that were productive with respect to immigration.”
“I think that’s an area where we have a good chance of getting something done,” Ryan continued. “There are clearly other areas where we have to work together. But what I am concerned about is he underplayed the enormity of the task before us, which is to confront a debt crisis. He is suggesting that there is not much work to be done to reduce the deficit and get this debt under control. And that’s just not the case. There is a lot of work to be done.”
Tapper went on to ask Ryan about the president’s proposal to raise the minimum wage.
“I have never been a fan of that idea,” Ryan said. “I think it is inflationary. I think it actually is counterproductive in many ways. You end up costing jobs from people who are at the bottom rung of the economic ladder. Look, I wish we could just pass a law saying everybody should make more money without any adverse consequences.”
“The problem is you end up costing jobs from those who are just trying to get entry-level jobs,” he continued. “The goal ought to be, is to get people out of entry-level jobs, into better jobs — better-paying jobs. That’s better education. That’s a growing economy. Those are some of the things he talked about, and I don’t think raising minimum wage — and history is very clear about this — doesn’t actually accomplish those goals.”
As far as spending cuts and entitlement reform, Ryan said the president lacked specifics in his address.
“So here is the issue — we to want make sure that we have tax reform,” Ryan said. “He said two things. He wants tax reform and then he said, close loopholes. Well, closing loopholes to spend more money in Washington means you’re denying the ability to do tax reform because it is from these loopholes that we do tax reform. By closing loopholes you can lower rates and do tax reform that creates jobs and can grow the economy. That’s what we’re in favor of. Lots of Democrats agree with us. If you take those loopholes for spending, which is what I heard tonight, then you’re making it virtually impossible to actually get tax reform.”
“So what we want are smart spending cuts, not across the board like he is suggesting,” Ryan added. “We want entitlement reforms. And we want tax reform which, of course, means closing loopholes so we can lower tax rates to get economic growth. That’s the secret of success. That’s where there is a lot of bipartisan support for, but I didn’t quite hear that from the president tonight, and that’s a cause for concern.”