Rep. Ryan: Obama budget ‘radically left-of-center’

The Americans may have worried about President Obama’s record when he was on the campaign trail, but now they know he’s “radically left-of-center” on the budget, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) alleged Thursday.

“Nobody knew who he was. He was in Congress for a few years; none of us knew what made him tick,” Ryan, the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, said during an appearance on CNBC this morning. “Now we know that he wants to be a left-of-center president of a right-of-center country. And he’s bringing a radically left of center budget to the Congress.”

Ryan asserted the administration had been disingenuous in suggesting their budget proposal could work without major tax hikes to help pay for the plan. He also accused the administration of ignoring the current economic downturn in drafting its budget.

“They said these are the things we want to do, we’ve got the votes, we control Congress, let’s just run ahead and move forward, regardless of whether we’re in a recession or not,” Ryan said.

The Wisconsin Republican, who many prognosticators see as a future leader of the GOP, said that the administration is trying to rush through proposals on healthcare, cap-and-trade, the budget, and other issues as quickly as possible.

“This budget is to the left of last year’s progressive caucus budget, which 131 Democrats voted against,” Ryan added.

Watch a video of the interview here: