Eau Claire (WQOW) - How to grow the economy without adding to the deficit: That's a big question facing lawmakers in Washington, D.C. and many of you are waiting for the right answer.
Someone who could play a very key role in answering that question came to Eau Claire on Wednesday. Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan has been called the, "budget king of the GOP." Most experts believe that he's on the short list of candidates to be Mitt Romney's running mate. The Republican lawmaker was at the Green Mill in Eau Claire on Wednesday. He was the special guest at a fundraiser for a local lawmaker, Representative Warren Petryk. The event was not open to the public or the media, but WQOW News 18 was able to catch up with Congressman Ryan after the event.
He would not answer questions about being a VP candidate, but did talk about other issues. Congressman Ryan's house budget has been polarizing. Many people love that it slashes federal spending. Others hate it, worried about the impact it could have on certain programs if it's approved. This week, a new report was released by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a non-partisan organization. It says unless significant new revenues are included, the efforts to reduce federal deficits would almost certainly damage Wisconsin's economic recovery. The report claims that under Congressman Ryan's plan, Wisconsin would lose 22% or $413 million of its federal funding for education, clean water, law enforcement and other services in the year 2014.
"I haven't seen the report, but the idea that if we don't raise taxes... (that) is a bad thing? So they're saying we need to raise taxes for Wisconsin job creators in order to grow the economy. That kind of logic doesn't make much sense to me. We don't want to keep raising taxes rates on our small businesses and on our job creators. If we keep doing that, we'll lose more jobs. I haven't seen this report, but if that's the conclusion I guess I would just disagree with it," said Rep. Ryan.
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Eau Claire (WQOW) - A potential candidate for vice president makes a stop in the Chippewa Valley.
Congressman Paul Ryan, who's from Janesville, was in Eau Claire on Wednesday. He was the special guest at a fundraiser for Assemblyman Warren Petryk. The event was not open to the public or the media, but we were able to catch up with Rep. Ryan after the event. He would not answer questions about being a VP candidate, but did talk about the budget. He said don't expect major legislation on tax reform before November.
"The tax code is a mess, it should be fair, simple and competitive. That's why we're proposing fundamental tax code in 2013, but we need the leadership," says Rep. Paul Ryan, (R) 1st Congressional District. "We need a new president, we need Mitt Romney to be president, we need a new Senate so we can actually fix this mess that's become the tax code instead of continuing to raise tax codes on small businesses."
Many experts believe Mitt Romney's vice president list is a short one with the solid and safe choices being Ohio Senator Rob Portman or former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. Congressman Ryan or Florida Senator Marco Rubio are considered bolder choices.
