Young Guns, by Rep. Paul Ryan, Rep. Eric Cantor & Rep. Kevin McCarthy: on Budget & Economy


Barack Obama: OpEd: Stimulus vote turned GOP into "party of No"

President Obama and his spokespeople would describe our opposition to the stimulus bill as our coming out as the party of "no." He accused us Republicans of making a calculated, political decision to oppose him on the stimulus bill instead of doing what was right for the country. He charged then (incorrectly), as he later would repeatedly, that we had already made the decision to oppose the stimulus bill before we even heard his proposals.

But sometimes saying "No" is what's right for this country--an all 178 Republican members said just that to President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader Reed's pork-laden stimulus package.

In a sense, President Obama had been correct when he identified the stimulus vote as a turning point--he was just wrong about what message it sent to the American people. Far from revealing us as the party of "no," our solidarity in the face of the majority party's bullying tactics revealed us to be an awakening movement of responsible leaders.

Source: Young Guns, by Reps. Ryan, Cantor & McCarthy, p. 52-56 Sep 14, 2010

Eric Cantor: Alternative stimulus: reduce taxes; $7500 homebuyer credit

On Jan. 23, 2009, in a meeting with the president and his economic advisers, John Boehner and I presented the president with our alternative stimulus bill. What we proposed could not have been more different than the bloated $787 billion monstrosity that was eventually passed by the Democratic Congress. It was a simple, direct way to create jobs and help our economy by focusing on small businesses. Here are the highlights:Not only was our plan fair, understandable, and more direct than the Democratic majority's bill, it delivered twice the bang for half the bucks spent in the Democratic plan. After I handed him the plan, Pres. Obama said, "Eric, there's nothing too crazy in here."
Source: Young Guns, by Reps. Ryan, Cantor & McCarthy, p. 48-49 Sep 14, 2010

Eric Cantor: Not "party of No", but party of principled opposition

Obama and his spokespeople would describe our opposition to the stimulus bill as our coming out as the party of "no." Far from us having made a political decision to oppose the president, the liberal House leadership had made the political decision to draft the bill without our input and ideas, and the president had made the decision to allow them to do so.

I will let history judge whether government spending is the best way to spur job creation and economic growth, much less whether the $787 billio Democratic stimulus bill did much to help our economy. But sometimes saying "No" is what's right for this country--and all 178 Republican members said just that to President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader Reed's pork-laden stimulus package. At the same time, we did so after offering our own, better alternative, which was central to creating a sense of purpose and unity among House Republicans--we were going to be the party of principled opposition.

Source: Young Guns, by Reps. Ryan, Cantor & McCarthy, p. 52-56 Sep 14, 2010

John Boehner: Alternative stimulus: reduce taxes; $7500 homebuyer credit

On Jan. 23, 2009, in a meeting with the president and his economic advisers, John Boehner and I presented the president with our alternative stimulus bill. What we proposed could not have been more different than the bloated $787 billion monstrosity that was eventually passed by the Democratic Congress. It was a simple, direct way to create jobs and help our economy by focusing on small businesses. Here are the highlights:Not only was our plan fair, understandable, and more direct than the Democratic majority's bill, it delivered twice the bang for half the bucks spent in the Democratic plan. After I handed him the plan, Pres. Obama said, "Eric, there's nothing too crazy in here."
Source: Young Guns, by Reps. Ryan, Cantor & McCarthy, p. 48-49 Sep 14, 2010

Kevin McCarthy: 2010 election unwinds vast government spending & mandates

In 2010, the election is about much more than health care, or energy policy, or even the security of our country. Will we repeal TARP and unwind the vast amounts of government spending and mandates that distorts the innovation and free enterprise in our financial services industry, our health-care system, our car companies, and our energy sector? Will we take meaningful steps to cut hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending and the ballooning $12 trillion national debt that we owe to creditors like China and the Middle East? What Democrats in Washington don't understand is that when we vote no to their policies, it's not because we are trying to obstruct. It's because we are trying to protect what has worked through the history of our nation. It's about America. It's about the direction we're headed.
Source: Young Guns, by Reps. Ryan, Cantor & McCarthy, p.179 Sep 14, 2010

Paul Ryan: America is on an unsustainable fiscal path

I've looked at the numbers. And for as long as I have been studying the amount of tax dollars spent by the federal government versus the amount of revenue it takes in, it has been painfully clear that America is on an unsustainable fiscal path.

We're rapidly approaching a point of no return; a tipping point after which we become a country most Americans have never dreamed we would be. If we keep spending like we're spending, American will become a place where unprecedented levels of debt overwhelm the budget, smother the economy, weaken our competitiveness in the twenty-first-century global economy, and threaten the survival of programs for the truly needy. Worse yet, we wil become a culture in which self-reliance becomes a vice and dependency a virtue; a place where so many American are dependent upon government that our country comes to reject individual initiative, entrepreneurship, and opportunity that made us great.

Source: Young Guns, by Reps. Ryan, Cantor & McCarthy, p.109-110 Sep 14, 2010

  • The above quotations are from Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders,
    by Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, and Kevin McCarthy.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Budget & Economy.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Paul Ryan on Budget & Economy.
  • Click here for more quotes by Eric Cantor on Budget & Economy.
2016 Presidential contenders on Budget & Economy:
  Republicans:
Gov.Jeb Bush(FL)
Dr.Ben Carson(MD)
Gov.Chris Christie(NJ)
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX)
Carly Fiorina(CA)
Gov.Jim Gilmore(VA)
Sen.Lindsey Graham(SC)
Gov.Mike Huckabee(AR)
Gov.Bobby Jindal(LA)
Gov.John Kasich(OH)
Gov.Sarah Palin(AK)
Gov.George Pataki(NY)
Sen.Rand Paul(KY)
Gov.Rick Perry(TX)
Sen.Rob Portman(OH)
Sen.Marco Rubio(FL)
Sen.Rick Santorum(PA)
Donald Trump(NY)
Gov.Scott Walker(WI)
Democrats:
Gov.Lincoln Chafee(RI)
Secy.Hillary Clinton(NY)
V.P.Joe Biden(DE)
Gov.Martin O`Malley(MD)
Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren(MA)
Sen.Jim Webb(VA)

2016 Third Party Candidates:
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Roseanne Barr(PF-HI)
Robert Steele(L-NY)
Dr.Jill Stein(G,MA)
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
Click for details -- or send donations to:
1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140
E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org
(We rely on your support!)

Page last updated: Feb 27, 2019