The Paul Ryan Record: Just the Facts
August 14, 2012
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Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan has just a 16 percent lifetime voting record on working family issues in his 12 years in Congress. Here are some things you need to know about the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee:
1. Ryan’s Budget Plan Ends Medicare. Medicare would be replaced with an underfunded, privatized voucher program. This program would double costs for seniors and raise the retirement age. Tens of millions of Americans would lose their health insurance or become underinsured.
2. Ryan’s Budget Does More Than End Medicare. Ryan budget cuts would result in 4.1 million jobs lost through 2014. Medicaid would be gutted and block granted, and investments in education and infrastructure would be slashed.
3. Ryan Would Raise Taxes on the Poor While Cutting Taxes for the Wealthy. “While the Ryan budget makes permanent all of the Bush tax cuts for high-income households that are slated to expire at the end of 2012, it would not extend the tax cuts for working-poor households that were enacted under President Obama and also are scheduled to expire at the end of this year.
4. Ryan Will Join Romney in Fighting Workers and their Unions. Ryan opposed the Employee Free Choice Act in Congress and voted for a two-month waiting period for a unionization vote after a petition is filed to allow for management intimidation. He also opposed collective bargaining rights for TSOs.
5. Ryan Criticizes Federal Workers. “We agree the federal workforce has gotten far too large and sluggish,” said Ryan. “We don’t have the incentives to get productivity and efficiency. I think we need to trim back our workforce.”
6. Ryan Supports Job-Killing Free Trade Agreements. Ryan voted for CAFTA, saying the pact was a ‘no-brainer for manufacturing and agriculture.’ He said that CAFTA would actually level the playing field for American workers. He also voted for the South Korea, Panama, and Colombia Free Trade Agreements.
7. Paul Ryan Doesn’t Support Project Labor Agreements. When New Hampshire Republican Rep. Frank Guinta offered an amendment to ban PLAs, Ryan said he mistakenly voted to protect PLAs. According to the Washington Times, “He said he would vote to ban PLAs the next time the subject came up.”
8. Paul Ryan Doesn’t Stand Up For Women. Ryan voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to prevent wage discrimination. And he voted for the Republican bill to reauthorize the 1994 Violence Against Women Act that weakens many current protections in the law.
9. Ryan Strongly Supports Repealing the Affordable Care Act. Ryan voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would allow insurance companies to resume denying coverage, limiting care and spending premiums on larger CEO salaries and profits. It would cost 1.2 million young adults their coverage through their parents’ health plan. It would mean higher drug prices for 2.7 million seniors and would eliminate free preventive services for 44 million seniors,
10. Paul Ryan Is A Disaster For Education. Ryan’s budget makes deep cuts in public education and would increase the interest rate on student loans. Ryan supports vouchers and for-profit colleges. He also voted against the Recovery Act, which included billions of dollars to help prevent teacher layoffs.
