Republican leaders including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy spoke Thursday at a forum revealing the GOP’s foreign policy plan citing weaknesses that were caused as a result of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy.
“In the past seven years our friendships have frayed, our rivalries have have intensified,” said Ryan. “It’s not too much to say that our enemies no longer fear us and too many of our allies no longer trust us. I believe this a direct result of the president’s foreign policy. … America has to set the standard.”
McCarthy, who also spoke, said that America has lost its standing on the world stage in recent years as a result of the Obama administration’s foreign policy agenda.
“Under the current administrations direction America took a step back from the world and and had allowed others like ISIS Russia and China to fill the void,” McCarthy said.
The plan that was unveiled at the Council of Foreign Relations Thursday morning is a product of Ryan’s “A Better Way” campaign, a policy agenda that House Republicans have been working on for months.
“We have four objectives: keep Americans safe at home, defeat terrorists, advance Americas interests abroad, renew our national security tools,” Ryan said.
Those four objectives will be achieved through 67 policy steps according to Ryan, which he hopes will pass through the House in 2017 with a Donald Trump presidency.