Ryan's Voting Record Shows Inconsistencies

Paul Ryan has been representing Wisconsin’s first congressional district since his election to the House of Representatives on November 3, 1998. Since then, he has championed fiscal conservatism by emphasizing the need for limited government, limited spending, tax cuts, and limited regulation over American trade. He is currently the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee and has been an eloquent voice in favor of what he has coined as his “Roadmap for America’s Future.”

He is young and is considered by many to be one of the brightest stars in the Republican Party that has taken severe beatings in the last two election cycles – losing control of the House and the Senate in 2006 and then sustaining further losses in both houses of Congress as well as losing the White House in 2008. Many of the established names of the Republican Party have become more moderate over time, much to the frustration of the conservative base, but several younger politicians have emerged to reestablish conservatism into the Republican Party. Ryan has gained much notoriety since his party’s debacles of 2006 and 2008. He frequently is seen on CNBC and has had editorials published numerous times in the Wall Street Journal.

It may come as a surprise to several conservatives that Ryan appears to have moderated his fiscal conservatism. Starting in September of 2008, Ryan voted in favor of the first bailout to the tune of $700 billion to rescue AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and several other lending institutions that were in danger of going bankrupt. He then voted in favor of the $14 billion bailout in December of 2008. Some speculated that this was due to troubles within his constituency where there happens to be a major GM manufacturing plant in Janesville. Finally, on March 18 of this year, Ryan voted in favor of H.R. 1586: a 90% tax levied on the bonuses awarded to AIG executives. AIG had received TARP money in the original bailout of the previous fall. This bill has since been shelved in the Senate.

Ryan represents a very diverse district where it is likely that the automakers had some pull on his decision for the so-called “Big 3 Bailout.” Ryan also stated publicly that the TARP vote was going to hurt him politically and that it went against his own political and fiscal principles. He followed that by saying that if something was not done, the economy may suffer dire consequences. Ryan was quoted as saying “It sucks, but it has to pass…The easiest thing would be to vote no and go hide in my office and watch the markets collapse. I will suffer politically for this, but I will sleep at night.” With regard to his most recent surprising vote, only one member of his home state’s delegation had voted against the AIG tax. James Sensenbrenner voted against it saying it was unconstitutional and would be thrown out in court.

Paul Ryan spoke to a rally in Madison on April 15 and indicated that the Democrats just “want you to pay up and shut up” and said the Democrats’ view of the American public’s duty is “to pay more and more taxes, because our government is smarter than you are.” His voting record has been very conservative as well save the three major exceptions of the past year. This would make him far from being what many conservatives refer to as a Republican in Name Only (RINO). The question of whether or not this will come back to undermine Ryan’s credibility as a fiscal conservative remains unknown, but is a worthy question.