Paul Ryan: “We do want to reduce the deficit. We are trying to reduce the deficit. I think there is a better way than this vehicle.…”

“We do want to reduce the deficit. We are trying to reduce the deficit. I think there is a better way than this vehicle. That is the point I am trying to make. I do believe there is a difference of opinion on how the PAYGO rules work. But also I think it is important to point out the fact that the tax cuts that took place last year, since then we have actually raised more money in tax receipts under these new lower tax rates than we did last year under the higher tax rates. So the facts are there; but, nevertheless, the point of this is we passed budget resolutions. We have not gotten one with the other body for a lot of reasons, but we have deemed it here. We passed the budget to try to get a handle on spending and reduce the deficit. I would have done even more on spending control in our budget resolution. This is not the vehicle to do it because I believe this vehicle will make it harder to extend this tax relief; and, therefore, you will have a tax increase on middle-income workers. And I believe the better vehicle to get a hold of our deficit is to pass a good budget that gets down our deficit.”