Rep. Paul Ryan said Wednesday morning that he would support the controversial budget deal reached by Congress and the White House, less than a day after saying the process used to reach the agreement “stinks.”
“What I’ve heard from members over the last two weeks is a desire to wipe the slate clean, put in place a process that builds trust, and start focusing on big ideas,” said Ryan, who is expected to become the next speaker of the House on Thursday. “What has been produced will go a long way toward relieving the uncertainty hanging over us, and that’s why I intend to support it. It’s time for us to turn the page on the last few years and get to work on a bold agenda that we can take to the American people.”
Ryan assured his fellow Republicans that he will not cut any budget deals like the one reached this week once he becomes speaker. In his statement Wednesday morning, he reiterated that if elected speaker of the House, “we will begin a conversation about how to approach these big issues – as a team – long before we reach these kinds of deadlines. We simply can’t keep doing business this way.”
Depsite his criticism, Ryan said he will support the budget deal, in part, because it includes “meaningful reforms to strengthen our safety net programs, including significant changes to bolster Social Security. It would allow us to return to regular order in our budget process. And it would mean our men and women in uniform have the resources they need to carry out their mission.”
