WCLO's Steve Benton reports on the Republican budget proposal presented by Congressman Paul Ryan
Click here to view Paul Ryan's column in the Wall Street Journal.
President Obama last week challenged his critics: If they don't like his budget, where is their alternative?
The Republicans didn't take that challenge lying down. They now have an alternative budget, and they chose Janesville native Paul Ryan to write it.
Rep. Ryan is the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee. He has been working day and night to write the Republican budget, said his spokesman, Conor Sweeney.
Ryan was scheduled to introduce the budget at 9:30 a.m. today, after The Janesville Gazette's copy deadline.
Ryan spoke to reporters in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday and gave them a taste of what he would unveil today.
"We will introduce a budget that is lower on spending, that is lower on taxes, that is lower on debt and higher on jobs," Ryan said.
Ryan faulted the Democrats' budget for a "tidal wave of borrowing, the likes of which we have never seen in America. …
"We need to get our borrowing under control. We need get our budget under control, and we cannot continue to go out and borrow, borrow, borrow, because if we do that, the future will be jeopardized. We will not have a prosperous America," Ryan said. "Our currency will be debased, and we won't have the kinds of jobs, the kind of prosperity, that we have enjoyed in this country."
Ryan and his party aren't likely to find enough support in the Democrat-controlled Congress for their ideas. Sweeney said most Republican attempts to modify the Democratic budget last week failed.