{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://paulryan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=364157", "A Firm Step Forward", "2013-12-11", "2013", "2013-12", "Republican", "House", "WI", "Paul Ryan", "R000570", "paulryan.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "By Paul Ryan\r\nYesterday, Senator Patty Murray and I introduced the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013. It\u2019s the first budget agreement of its kind since 1986, and I\u2019m proud to support it. This bill will reduce the deficit by $23 billion. It won\u2019t raise taxes. And it will cut spending in a smarter way. It doesn\u2019t go as far as I\u2019d like. But it\u2019s a firm step in the right direction.\r\nFirst, let\u2019s remember how we got here: In 2011, President Obama signed into law the Budget Control Act. The law tasked a twelve-member \u201csupercommittee\u201d with cutting at least $1.2 trillion from the federal deficit. And to spur them to action, the law essentially made a threat: If the committee couldn\u2019t come to an agreement, the law would order arbitrary, across-the-board cuts \u2014 known as the sequester \u2014 to get those savings. It would make half of the cuts in defense programs and the other half in domestic programs. In other words, the alternative to an agreement would be so painful that the supercommittee would just have to reach one.\r\nUnfortunately, the committee couldn\u2019t come to an agreement. And this year, the sequester took effect. Now, House Republicans wanted to keep these savings. In fact, we wanted to save more. But we didn\u2019t think our troops should bear the brunt of these cuts. The Defense Department warned it would have to shrink our armed forces and make serious cuts to training, readiness, and modernization. Members of both parties quickly realized there was a better way to cut spending.\r\nWhen Senator Murray and I started these negotiations, we agreed on some ground rules. We knew if we tried to force each other to violate one of our core principles, we\u2019d never get anywhere. I wasn\u2019t going to raise taxes. She wasn\u2019t going to change major entitlements.\r\nInstead, we looked for common ground. There was some overlap between the budget she proposed in the Senate and the budget I proposed in the House. We knew we wouldn\u2019t resolve all our differences. So we found some commonsense ideas both parties could support.\r\nHere\u2019s what we came up with: The Bipartisan Budget Act will provide $63 billion in sequester relief \u2014 split evenly between defense programs and other domestic priorities \u2014 in exchange for $85 billion in savings elsewhere in the budget. In other words, this bill will reduce the deficit by an additional $23 billion, without raising taxes. And most important, it will cut spending in a smarter way.\r\nHow do we cut spending? First, we eliminate waste. We stop paying Medicaid bills that dead-beat dads should cover. That alone is a $1.4 billion cut. We stop sending unemployment checks to criminals. And we stop sending government checks to dead people. There\u2019s no reason to tolerate fraud.\r\nSecond, we cut corporate welfare. For instance, we repeal a government research program for private energy companies. A profitable industry shouldn\u2019t rely on taxpayers to pay for its research.\r\nThird, we make real reforms to the real problem: autopilot spending. The federal government makes trillions of dollars in empty promises to retirees. And these empty promises don\u2019t only drive the national debt; they threaten these retirees\u2019 security. We don\u2019t solve all these problems, but we make a good start: We make sensible reforms to federal-employee and military-retirement programs.\r\nWe ask new federal employees to contribute a little bit more to their retirement, so taxpayers don\u2019t have to pick up the full tab. And for younger military retirees, we trim their cost-of-living adjustments just a bit. It\u2019s a modest reform for working-age military retirees, many of whom have second careers after leaving the armed forces.\r\nFinally, we don\u2019t think taxpayers should have to bail out private companies\u2019 pension benefits. So we ask these companies to cover more of the cost of guaranteeing their benefits. That will protect taxpayers and save $7.9 billion.\r\nThese are real cuts that will become law immediately. If we pass this bill, we\u2019ll eliminate waste \u2014 right now. We\u2019ll cut corporate welfare \u2014 right now. And new government employees will start paying a fairer share. These savings will build up over time. But they will be even greater than what we\u2019d save by doing nothing. That\u2019s why this is a good deal.\r\nWe haven\u2019t squandered the gains from the Budget Control Act. We build on them. Our agreement preserves 92 percent of the sequester cuts \u2014 even though Democrats wanted none of them. We don\u2019t get rid of this fiscal discipline \u2014 we get more and do so in a smarter way.\r\nNow, I\u2019ll be the first to admit that this bill doesn\u2019t solve the problem. I\u2019ve passed three budgets in the House, all three of which would have fully paid off our debt without raising taxes. This bill doesn\u2019t go nearly far enough. But in divided government, you don\u2019t get everything you want. You have to work with the other side. And when you get the chance to take a step forward \u2014 however small \u2014 you take it.\r\nHere\u2019s what we\u2019ve accomplished: We\u2019ve cut spending in a smarter way. And we\u2019ve made it clear: Tax hikes aren\u2019t an option. We\u2019ve said budget talks should be about how Washington can live within its means, not how families should pay more. For conservatives, this agreement shows we can make Washington work \u2014 and on our own terms. It\u2019s not perfect. But it\u2019s a start. And I ask all my colleagues in the House to support it.\r\n\u2014 Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) is chairman of the House Budget Committee.\r\nhttp://www.nationalreview.com/article/366050/firm-step-forward-paul-ryan", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://paulryan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=364157"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3153371401131153, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}