Ryan strikes collaborative tone
WASHINGTON — To hear Rep. Paul Ryan tell it, a bipartisan group of congressional negotiators has the chance to take the first steps toward fixing a serious problem: a debt-ridden federal government facing an onslaught of retiring baby boomers draining entitlement programs.
If successful, “we'll restore confidence in Washington,” Ryan said this week at the start of House-Senate budget talks. “The bar is pretty low right now. Let's see if we can clear it.”
The 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee seemed to suggest a collaborative approach as he started formal talks with Democrats intended to reach a budget agreement by mid-December. The panel could be pivotal in avoiding another government shutdown in January when money is slated to run out again and a debt default in February.
From now until a deal is reached, how Ryan comports himself could offer clues about his political future — is he maneuvering for a House leadership position or for a 2016 presidential campaign?
The 43-year-old Wisconsin congressman's remarks and actions in coming weeks also could signal which side of the ideological-pragmatic divide he favors — or whether he can straddle both sides — at a time of deep rifts within the Republican Party between tea party conservatives and more business-friendly, establishment Republicans.
As he usually does, Ryan is warning against drawing any political inferences from his words or actions.
“A lot of people just don't understand me,” Ryan said recently in an interview with The Associated Press. “Look, I am not sitting in my home or in my office thinking about 'How does this help my personal political career years down the road?' I am literally thinking about what's the best way I can do my job today.”
The budget negotiations offer Ryan both risks and rewards.
If the House-Senate panel fails to reach an agreement, it could put Congress on the path to another government shutdown. Any deal that Ryan helps craft could be used against him in a future campaign while simultaneously incurring the wrath of conservatives if it's viewed as too accommodating to Obama and Democrats.
Yet if Ryan helps broker a deal, even a limited one, it could give him more clout in Congress and allow him to make the case to Republicans that he pushed forward ideas to address the nation's big economic problems and end a pattern of governing from crisis to crisis.
