On day of damage control, Ryan promises better social safety net

Republican vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., talks about the national debt during a campaign stop, Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012 in Dover, N.H.

/ AP Photo/Jim Cole

(CBS News) DOVER, N.H. - Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan told New Hampshire voters Tuesday that President Obama has created a safety net that encourages dependency and "drains people of their will and their incentive to make the most of their lives." He said that he and presidential nominee Mitt Romney would create a better social safety net that will "break the cycle of poverty," but he offered no details for achieving that goal.

Ryan's comments came a day after the liberal magazine Mother Jones published a video of Romney telling campaign donors at a private fundraising event that Mr. Obama's supporters are people who pay no income taxes and expect handouts from the government.

In a Monday evening press conference, Romney said his words were "not elegantly stated," but that he stood by the substance of the remarks. Along with Ryan, senior Romney adviser Kevin Madden was trying to tamp down reaction to the secretly recorded video, telling reporters traveling with Romney that the candidate remains "focused on the economy."

At a town hall meeting with about 430 people here, Ryan laid out a vision for the entitlement system that represented his most extensive discussion of the issue yet as the vice presidential candidate. It seemed to be aimed at softening the tone of Romney's secretly recorded remarks, which included his observation that the 47 percent of Americans are supporting Obama's reelection are people "who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it."

Ryan said, "We believe in a safety net that is there for people who truly cannot help themselves, so they can live a life of dignity. But we also believe in a safety net that is there for people who are down on their luck, so that they can get back on their feet. We don't want a safety net that encourages more dependency, because there is no economic growth behind it, because what that ends up doing is, it drains people of their will and their incentive to make the most of their lives, to tap their potential, to get on their path to prosperity. That unfortunately is what we are seeing in the Obama economy."

The "mission" of the Romney-Ryan ticket, he said, is to address the root causes of poverty instead of merely treating its symptoms. He suggested that social welfare programs like food stamps should not be measured by how many people receive them, but rather how many people transition off of them.

In the recent past, Ryan has faced questions of his own before about whether policies he espoused as the House Republicans' lead budget writer would adequately help the nation's poorest citizens. Earlier this spring, before he joined the Republican ticket, Ryan came under fire from priests and faculty members at the Jesuit Catholic-run Georgetown University, who said his budget "decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few." In early 2011, he said that if government's growth is left unchecked, "we will transform our social safety net into a hammock, which lulls able-bodied people into lives of complacency and dependency."

Ryan said at Tuesday's town hall meeting, "What Mitt and I are trying to do is to have more taxpayers, not by taxing people more, but by having more growth and economic opportunity so people are getting jobs and paychecks and paying taxes and providing for themselves and creating a life of opportunity."

Yet, he offered no details for what his updated social safety would look like, only broad promises of reform.

On board Romney's flight from California to Salt Lake City, Utah, on Tuesday, adviser Madden fielded questions from reporters about Romney's videotaped remarks and the ensuing political firestorm. He said the campaign had no plans to view the complete video, which was released today by Mother Jones, the magazine that first published excerpts on Monday.

"I still think this is an election that is focused on the economy, it's focused on the direction of the country, and I think the voters right now who have yet to make up their mind are still viewing it through the lens of that," he said. He described Romney as "very focused and determined.

Asked about Republicans who have described some of Romney's comments as "arrogant" and "stupid," Madden said, "We always ask ourselves as a campaign what matters to voters. What matters to voters is whether or not we're going to have the answers they need about how we're going to put the economy back on track, put the country going back in the right direction, so I think that's where our focus remains."

Sarah Huisenga contributed to this report.

[smartalecq]

Remember that melodramatic Ryan speech about the closing of the Wisconsin GM plant. That was hilarious. Ryan was even in tears. Later it turned out that the plant closed during Bush's time. He even blamed Obama for the Republican downgrade. Fact checkers exposed Ryan's convention speech as 99% lies.

After this election, Ryan would be as credible as Palin. Not the irrelevant bimbo kind, the smooth talking snake oil salesman kind.

[smartalecq]

If Ryan does watch his golden mouth, Romney's silver foot will end up in it.

[smartalecq]

Romney flip-flops and Ryan flop-flips it back again.
What's consistent is their lying.

[TJphoto]

Some how the word "PROMISE" doesn't mean much coming from a politician during an election cycle.

[injuntrouble]

Ryan promises a better safety net? His budget already cuts Medicaid and foodstamps in half. His hope is that most of the recipients will die of hunger and illness then Ryan's budget may be sufficient to cover the poor who survive his axe.

[goddardr]

Lyin' Ryan is at it again. They don't want to reverse dependency, just end it and to hell with those in need.

Ryan could have helped deliver the Grand Bargain, but a) he laid down the no tax increase gauntlet and b) he wanted to make sure there was no improvement on the economy that would help re-elect Obama. He sold out the country.

[davidd5063]

"We don't want a safety net that encourages more dependency, because there is no economic growth behind it, because what that ends up doing is, it drains people of their will and their incentive to make the most of their lives, to tap their potential, to get on their path to prosperity. That unfortunately is what we are seeing in the Obama economy." Translation: Obama is handing out free money to blacks and that's the whole problem with the economy. You white folks on the govt dole got no worries.

[Maerzie]

What blacks need is to have a man around the house. Too many families consist of a mother, the kids, and an absent father. Mother has to work, so the kids have nobody there for disciplining, and many get into trouble. It's a never-ending cycle.

[rayward73446]

The problem with your post is that many collecting benefits are the unemployed, who for no fault of their own lost their jobs. The Bush administration caused the deep recession that resulted in all of our economic problems. Your distaste for "blacks" shows your bigotry. which I believe is common for most republicans from the south. Ryan is not going to do anything but cut programs, like social security.

[A_Canadian_Opinion]

A great picture of a paradox, Ryan standing in front of the debt clock, preaching a better safety net. I think he was obviously planning to talk about debt reduction and spending less on the safety net, but he had to pivot to deal with the fallout from Romney's who-cares-about-the-47% comments.

[Maerzie]

Hilarious that Ryan's going to invent a safety net NOW, after he sucked his way to being the V.P. candidate by making their already approved budget, with severe cuts to the poor and the elderly. The cuts are so severe that people will be starving to death and getting kicked out of nursing homes. Even the Catholic Bishops rebuked Ryan for his lack of humanity. So now, as Romney is damning the poor, as "half the country, who love being dependent, and will NEVER be able to get off their entitlement programs", his VP candidate is going to tell us he was only PRETENDING with his severe budget that sucked his way up. Romney sort of "forgot" about his OWN entitlement program of Republican welfare, the outrageous trillions of dollars worth of tax cuts, exclusively for the wealthiest! They LOVE being dependent on their Tax cuts, and other WELFARE programs. and have fought tooth and nail to keep their entitlement program(s)!

[Lucky12345678]

Let's examine the alternatives: OK, what is Obama's plan for the next four years? All we get from the Obama administration are attacks on the Republicans and their plan, where is team Obama's plan for the way FORWARD. I've heard it's based on reducing the payroll tax for another year and borrow more money to invest in infrastructure along with more borrowed Federal money to put state teachers and police back on the public payrolls. Is that the Democratic plan, more of the same? Obama's current plan has already increased the national debt by 5 Trillion; Food Stamp participation went from 32 to 46 Million and unemployment from 7.8% to 8.1%, sounds like it's going to be more of the same... So how's that "Hope and Change" thing working for you!

[sjc_1]

We have the Grand Bargain and the Jobs Proposal, just search "Obama Plan" and you will see. Go to Whitehouse.gov and you can read all about the plans for the economy, energy, jobs or any other topic.

[dj_chi]

Obama didn't add $5 trillion to the debt. For a start, about $1 trillion is interest on the debt that was accrued before Obama took office. Add to that $700 billion for Medicare Part D and you have at LEast $1.7 trillion of debt each year. And what's the deficit each year lately? $1.4 trillion? Plus or minus.... So if we take away those two we'd have no debt added each year. Think about that.

[omnibus66]

RobMe and lyin' Ryan are going to fix everything, but evidently the "how" is a secret that the American people are not to be entrusted with. Somehow they're going to magically create umpteen million good paying jobs so that everyone can work and we can get rid of any form of welfare. They're going to give all the old folks medical vouchers so we can get rid of Medicare (and old folks). But they're also going to add hundreds of billions to the military machine so we can start some good old fashioned wars. You know, the kind where big corporations get much, much bigger with war contracts. How could we not want to vote for such a wonderful pair?