Love It, Lukewarm Or Playing Coy? TPMDC Tracks GOP On Ryan’s Roadmap Budget

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)
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Republicans have spent weeks sidestepping whether they back a top GOPer’s budget “roadmap” plan which includes major cuts to entitlement programs to end the deficit.

We’ve been trying to pin down whether House Republicans support Social Security cuts and the proposal for creating a voucher system for Medicare as outlined in Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget “roadmap.”

Will they go on the record supporting deeply unpopular cuts in an effort to claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility heading into the midterm elections this fall? Will they run away from the idea and put forward the broad, non-specific measure they presented as the GOP alternative budget in 2009?

TPMDC started with Republicans who publicly backed President George W. Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security in 2005, phoning and emailing their offices at least three times, and in some cases four times, in February and yesterday.

Here’s what we’ve come up with so far.

Loves it:

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

As we reported at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Issa told us he prefers the Ryan plan to what Bush proposed, and would co-sponsor it.

Lukewarm:

Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA)
Spokesman Rick Curtsinger told TPMDC that the Congressman has looked at the roadmap but not in great detail. “He does think that it offers some very interesting solutions that are certainly worth looking at more closely,” Curtsinger said. Boustany particularly is interested in the Medicare changes.

Non-committal:

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
His spokeswoman Tara Setmayer told TPMDC he is still reviewing the Ryan proposal. She noted that Rohrabacher supports Ryan’s health care alternative, which laid out similar changes to Medicare as the roadmap plan.

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN)
He was asked about the Ryan plan at CPAC last month. Pence emphasized it was “a roadmap” but refused to embrace it. “I might take a different approach on some things than the one in the plan,” he said, not elaborating.

Rep. John Boozman (R-AR)
Boozman, running for Senate, said in a statement to us he’s considering “all proposals.” “Social Security and Medicare face great challenges and we are considering all proposals to make these programs successful for future generations. I haven’t cosponsored any legislation at this point but when I do it will be a plan that is supported by the people of Arkansas,” he said.

Refuses to say:

Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL)
Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL)
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)
Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Rep. David Dreier (R-CA)
Rep. John Fleming (R-LA)
Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV)
Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA)
Rep. Dennis Rehberg (R-MT)
Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL)

Does not support:

Rep. Steve King told us in an interview he does not like the Ryan approach.

We’ll update as we hear back from members.

Additional reporting by Rachel Slajda and Evan McMorris-Santoro

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