In the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address, Rep. Paul Ryan will spend considerable time highlighting the country’s budget and fiscal woes, The Daily Caller has learned. Specifically, he will address spending, budget, the failed stimulus and the cost of the health care reform bill.
The response will criticize the president for overseeing a 25 percent growth in domestic government agencies and adding $3 trillion to the national debt – which Ryan will call a “crushing burden” that will “eclipse our entire economy, and grow to catastrophic levels in the years ahead.”
“No economy can sustain such high levels of debt and taxation. The next generation will inherit a stagnant economy and a diminished country. Frankly, it’s one of my greatest concerns,” he will say.
Ryan will also tell the public to hold Congress accountable on producing and passing a budget this year. “Last year – in an unprecedented failure– Congress chose not to pass, or even propose a budget. The spending spree continued unchecked. We owe you a better choice and a different vision. Our forthcoming budget is our obligation to you – to show you how we intend to do things differently, how we will cut spending to get the debt down, help create jobs and prosperity, and reform government programs.”
Ryan will also take time to attack Obama’s health care law, charging that it has raised costs and premiums, will cause millions of people to lose the insurance they currently have, and that its mandates, penalties and fees are stifling job creation. He will also draw off of Obama’s Wall Street op-ed last week about regulation reform.
“The President mentioned the need for regulatory reform to ease the burden on American businesses. We agree – and we think his health care law would be a great place to start.”
Ryan’s response will also counter the president’s speech by proposing a limited-government solution. “Our nation is approaching a tipping point. We are at a moment, where if government’s growth is left unchecked and unchallenged, America’s best century will be considered our past century.”
Ryan will then call for a “new course” in government fostering of innovation, competitiveness, and consumer protection.
“We need to reclaim our American system of limited government, low taxes, reasonable regulations, and sound money, which has blessed us with unprecedented prosperity. And it has done more to help the poor than any other economic system ever designed. That’s the real secret to job creation – not borrowing and spending more money in Washington.”
Ryan’s speech will take place in the House Budget Committee hearing room, to symbolize the forthcoming GOP effort to stop the spending and push for fiscally sound budget cuts.