Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich apologized to House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan for slamming the Wisconsin congressman’s budget proposal Sunday, according to Politico’s Mike Allen.
Gingrich’s press secretary acknowledged that the former House speaker reached out to Ryan in a telephone call Tuesday afternoon, according to the report.
“Newt apologized,” Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler said. “The call went very well.”
Gingrich officially declared his candidacy for president last Wednesday but sparked a political firestorm by condemning Ryan’s budget, which would reform Medicare by gradually moving the program to a voucher system.
On Sunday, Gingrich called Ryan’s Medicare reform “radical” and “right-wing social engineering.”
“I think he now understands the magnitude of his comments, how wrong they were, and I think he’s going to have more to say about that,” Ryan said on Mark Levin’s radio show Tuesday.
“He basically called and apologized, and I accepted his apology,” he said. “I think he understands that that was an inaccurate characterization. I think he just misspoke, and I think it’s beginning to sink in, and hopefully he can put it right and we can move on.”