DES MOINES, IOWA -- KTVO’s Greg Deffenbaugh - Congressman, first I want to talk to you about the farm bill. A lot of attention is being paid to it here in the Heartland. What is your position on getting this passed by the end of the month; and are you, there are some republicans in congress that are say lets wait until after the election, what are your thoughts on that?
Congressman Paul Ryan - Well I supported the drought relief and I supported extending the existing farm bill for a year, but we didn't have that through the senate. Look, we want to have a farm bill, for sure, but we want to get it right. We have to remember that there is a lot of waste and a lot of fraud that needs to be dealt with in the food stamp area. Food stamps consume about 80% of the farm bill; and when you are not dealing with reforming the food stamp program, that makes it difficult to get the right kind of farm bill we need. We want a farm bill that works for farmers, that helps people protect against price fluctuations, and that is why I supported an extension of the current farm bill and the drought relief. Unfortunately, I don't know if you are going to see a real full farm bill passed before the end of the month. But I want to make sure that farmers know when they start putting their crops in the field next year that they have a farm program they can rely on.
KTVO’s Greg Deffenbaugh - It is kind of one big cycle, as you know, right to the deficit; and a lot of Americans are concerned about this, you obviously are very concerned about this. What would you and Governor Romney do in the first 100 days to get the deficit under control?
Congressman Paul Ryan - Of all the things where Barack Obama has failed to lead it's in getting this deficit and debt under control. The President has given us four budgets with trillion dollar deficits each and every year and never a single plan to actually get this budget balanced. Right away, we are calling for a 5% cut in non-security discretionary spending. That’s the category of spending on government bureaucracy’s that has gone up so much under the Obama years. We are also proposing, very important reforms to our entitlement programs to guarantee the promise, programs like Medicare, Social Security for current seniors, but for those of us who are younger you have to reform them if we are going to be able to count on them when we retire. So we have basically three things; get the economy growing. That is what the Romney/Ryan plan for a stronger middle class is all about. It is a very specific five point plan that gets people back to work, gets economic growth, gets higher take-home pay, cut wasteful Washington spending, reform those long term drivers of our debt, that's what we are going to be working on in our first 100 days, because if we don't deal with this problem before it gets out of our control, we will have a European debt crisis. And unfortunately, under President Obama’s failed leadership h e has moved us closer to a European like debt crisis and what happens when you have a debt crisis is everybody gets hurt. In Europe they are slashing health and retirement benefits for current retirees. They are cranking up taxes which makes it harder for younger people to get jobs. We want tax reform. We want an energy policy. We want to champion small businesses and you've got to cut spending so we can get government to live within its means otherwise we will have a debt crisis just like they have in Europe.
KTVO’s Greg Deffenbaugh - You mentioned energy policy. Iowa is big on wind energy right now; are you for extending that tax credit that is currently being debated right now?
Congressman Paul Ryan - We think the best way to go is number one an all the above energy strategy, that includes renewable like wind, but we are proposing is tax reform that lowers tax rates on all businesses not just wind producers, but all manufacturers and all businesses so they have lower tax rates across the board, they can be more competitive. We want to make sure that every person running a small business does not have the worlds highest tax rates; unfortunately President Obama is proposing that successful small businesses have tax rates that go above 40% in January. When a lot of our competitors, such as the Canadians, lowered their tax rates for their successful small businesses to 15%, you can't compete like that. More to the point, President Obama is proposing all of these tax increases and they don't even pay for a fifth of all his proposed deficit spending. So this agenda that President Obama has passed, spend more, borrow even more, tax and regulate more, it doesn't work to create jobs and prosperity. Mitt Romney and I have a different direction to go, very specific solutions to get people back to work to get this debt crisis under control and we want to make sure that we have more American energy independence by producing more American energy.
KTVO’s Greg Deffenbaugh - My last question for you deals with healthcare. Governor Romney told "Meet the Press" that he likes some things about that plan, you are for a voucher like system that you have talked about. Do you like anything about the current Obamacare plan?
Congressman Paul Ryan - I think the entire architecture of the Obamacare program is fundamentally fraud. That is why I think it needs to be repealed. Because it effectively represents a government takeover of our healthcare system. Where government puts price controls on providers, which will lead to denied care for people, especially senior citizens. I don't like Obamacare's raid of the Medicare trust fund. I don't like the new bureaucracy that they have put in charge of healthcare. So what we are saying, what Mitt and I are saying is we can have a healthcare system in America where everybody has access to affordable healthcare including people with pre-existing conditions and without a costly government takeover. We believe in a patient centered system, where the patient and her doctor are the driving force of healthcare. There are several reforms that we are advocating that will get us there, but you have to get rid of this very partisan government takeover known as Obamacare and replace it with better ideas which can get everybody no matter who they are access to affordable healthcare in America.
KTVO’s Greg Deffenbaugh - If elected, could you get that done within the first year?
Congressman Paul Ryan - Oh absolutely, our goal is to get people back to work , is to fix this healthcare mess, is to prevent a debt crisis from engulfing our country like it is engulfing Europe and get people back on that path to prosperity. We believe in pro-growth opportunity society that is what the American idea has always been but if we have a debt crisis, if we follow four more years of the same that President Obama is proposing my fear is that it will get much worse then it is already today.
KTVO’s Greg Deffenbaugh - You think Wisconsin can beat Iowa?
Congressman Paul Ryan - Yes. I thought you were asking if Wisconsin can go for Romney/Ryan? You threw me off on the Big Ten thing. You know, we struggled against Utah State on Saturday and we lost to Oregon State so we had a great quarterback last year, he's starting for the Seahawks. We are a little testy right now. We've had a pretty rough start as the Badgers and Iowa has a strong football program.
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