Congressman Paul Ryan Radio Address
March 23, 2007

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Transcript:

I’m Congressman Paul Ryan, I represent Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District, and I serve as the Ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee.

The key to this year’s budget debate isn’t about whether Congress should balance the federal budget – both sides agree, we can – and must.

The key to the debate was on how we’re going to get there.

Yesterday, the House Budget Committee debated the Democrats’ fiscal year 2008 budget proposal.

As both sides presented their views, it became clear that it was much more than a simple discussion about budgetary priorities over the next few years.

Instead, it was a much larger debate about our governing philosophies, about what kind of society we envision, and about the kind of country we want to leave for future generations.

The budget Democrats proposed is true to their philosophy. They believe that more government is better government, and that the best way to solve the myriad problems we face in this country is to spend more and more and to tax our people more and more to pay for that spending.

The Democrats’ budget reflected this philosophy by calling for the largest tax increase in American history, immense new spending, and postponement of critical entitlement reform for at least another five years.

I think this is an enormous missed opportunity by the Democrats. Again, I am glad to see that the Democrats balance the budget in 2012. Republicans share this goal and commend them for getting there. But Republicans believe – I believe – more taxation equals less freedom.

We believe that the best America is an America free from the shackles of big government. We believe that the nucleus of our society and the engine of economic growth in this country is the individual, not the government. The American dream is the story of a person who, regardless of Race, Religion, Gender of Class, reaches their God-given potential by making the most of the franchise of liberty. And the more we tax this individual, the less freedom he will have, and the less freedom his family will have.

So, next week, Republicans will propose our own budget. We, too, will balance the budget. But we will balance the budget – without raising taxes – by: keeping our economy growing strong, reforming our nation’s largest – and least sustainable – entitlement programs, and increasing accountability in all federal spending.

Because if we choose the wrong direction today – if we fail to set priorities, fail to make choices, fail to reform – those who believe that our society is founded on freedom, on equality of opportunity and on the individual, will have lost. And we may be the first generation to sever that precious and fragile American legacy of leaving a better standard of living for future generations.