Wisconsin Republican congressman Paul Ryan expressed doubts Friday as to whether a bipartisan committee of members of Congress will reach a deal to eliminate upwards of $1.2 trillion from the nation’s deficit.
Speaking on Bloomberg Television, the Wisconsin Republican said recent developments have led him to question whether a deal will be done before an November deadline.
“I hope there’s a bipartisan compromise. I think there will be. I don’t know how large it will be. If it’s not $1.2 trillion, then that minimizes how much the sequester hits by,” Mr. Ryan said. “We proposed a budget with $6.2 trillion in cuts. So clearly, we can show many different ways of arriving at $1.2 trillion in spending cuts.”
Still, Mr. Ryan, who chairs the House Budget Committee, said glimmers of hope for a bipartisan deal remain.
“The Biden group was getting very close to that. So we’ve had talks earlier that got very close to that number, so I’d like to think we can get pretty close to that number,” the Republican congressman said.
Asked if Republicans would consider a potential deal involving increases in revenue, the Wisconsin Republican hinted that Republicans would likely demand steep concessions in exchange for such a deal.
“That’s the grand bargain discussion. And to have a grand bargain, where you have tax reform and higher revenues that result from that, requires wholesale health care reform, meaning the president’s health care law, health care entitlements, and it doesn’t appear that the Democrats want to do that. From the early parts of these talks, they don’t seem to be willing to put the president’s health care law on the table, so that’s why I don’t think you’re going to have a grand bargain,” Mr. Ryan said.
Mr. Ryan’s comments come as House Speaker John Boehner said earlier this week the Republicans will resist calls from President Obama to increase the rate of taxes paid by individuals making more than $1 million. Speaking Monday, Mr. Obama called on congressional lawmakers to consider additional spending cuts and revenue increases in order to exceed the $1.2 trillion mark set by the debt committee.
