Weekly Republican Address, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan 02/23/13 FULL TEXT and VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Weekly Republican Address, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan 02/23/13 FULL TEXT and VIDEO TRANSCRIPT.

WASHINGTON, DC – In the Weekly Republican Address, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) touts Republicans’ plan to improve the lives of American families by balancing the budget in 10 years and invites President Obama to join us in this common-sense goal. In the address, he details how Republicans’ balanced budget means more economic security for workers and parents, a more secure retirement for the elderly, and more opportunities for younger Americans. “So today we invite President Obama to do what President Clinton did,” Ryan says, and “work with Republicans in Congress to balance the budget.”

NOTE: The Weekly Republican Address is embargoed until 6:00 a.m. ET, Saturday, March 16, 2013. A full transcript follows.

“Next week, the House of Representatives will vote on a plan to improve the lives of American families by balancing the budget in ten years.

“How do we do it? Well, it’s pretty simple: We stop spending money we don’t have. Historically, we’ve paid a little less than one-fifth of our income in taxes to the federal government each year. But the government has spent more—a lot more. And the results are plain to see: Despite the President’s promise, the stimulus didn’t work. Today, 46 million people are living in poverty, the highest in a generation. One in seven workers either can’t find a job or works only part time.

“Our plan lets Washington spend only what it takes in. This is how every family tries to live, in good times and in bad. Your government should do the same.

“But the crucial question isn’t how we balance the budget. It’s why. The budget is a means to an end. We’re not balancing the budget as an accounting exercise. We’re not trying to simply make numbers add up. We’re trying to improve people’s lives.

“For Americans worried about jobs and the cost of living, our plan protects them from tax hikes and calls for Congress to fix the tax code by lowering rates and closing loopholes. We’re also going to approve the Keystone pipeline and unlock our nation’s abundant domestic-energy resources.

“For Americans trying to keep up with the cost of health care, our plan repeals the president’s health-care law and clears the way for patient-centered reforms.

“For younger workers hoping for a secure retirement, we will protect and strengthen Medicare so that it’s there for them—just like it’s there for my mom today.

“And for taxpayers fed up with the status quo, we will cut wasteful spending. We will rein in red tape, and we will give states flexibility on how to implement their federal welfare programs.

“If we take these steps, our economy will grow. Our country will regain confidence. And we will reignite the American Dream. All we need is leadership. We owe the American people a responsible, balanced budget. It’s not fair to take more from families just to spend more in Washington.

“I wish the powers-that-be in Washington agreed. President Obama and Senate Democrats say they want a “balanced approach” to our fiscal issues. But their budgets never balance—ever. Instead, they want to raise taxes to fuel more spending.

“We know where this path leads—straight into a debt crisis, and along the way, fewer jobs, fewer opportunities, and less security. What would this look like? First, lenders will demand higher interest rates. And when they do, interest rates across the country will skyrocket—on credit cards, on mortgages, on car loans. And as interest rates rise, debt payments will overwhelm all other items in the budget. The debt will overwhelm our economy. Our finances will collapse. The safety net will unravel. And the most vulnerable will suffer. You think this can’t happen here? Just look at Europe.

“We don’t accept that future—not for our children, not for our country.

“So today we invite President Obama to do what President Clinton did—to work with Republicans in Congress to balance the budget. He can join in the effort, or he can choose the status quo. But he must choose.

“The American people deserve an honest account of our challenges—and what’s needed to confront them. We have an opportunity to face them with courage and resolve—as we have always done throughout history.

“Thanks for listening."

Rand Paul CPAC 2013 FULL VIDEO and TEXT TRANSCRIPT

Rand Paul CPAC 2013 FULL VIDEO and TEXT TRANSCRIPT, CPAC 2013 - U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) Published on Mar 14, 2013. Category: Nonprofits and Activism. License: Standard YouTube License.

I have a message for the President, a message that is loud and clear, a message that doesn’t mince words.

The message for the President is that no one person gets to decide the law, no one person gets to decide your guilt or innocence.

My question to the President was about more than just killing Americans on American soil.

My question was about whether Presidential power has limits.

Lincoln put it well when he wrote, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man, give
him power.”

President Obama who seemed, once upon a time, to respect civil liberties, has become the President who signed a law allowing for the indefinite detention of an American citizen. Indeed, a law that allows an American citizen to be sent to Guantanamo Bay without a trial. President Obama defends his signing of the bill by stating that he has no intention of detaining any American citizen without a trial.

Likewise, he defended his possible targeted Drone strikes against Americans on American soil by indicating that he has no intention of doing so.

Well, my thirteen hour filibuster was a message to the President.

Good intentions are not enough. The presidential oath of office states ‘I WILL protect, preserve, and defend the Constitution,’ NOT ‘I intend to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution.’

Mr. President, good intentions are not enough. We want to know, will you or won’t you defend the Constitution?

Eisenhower wrote,

“How far can you go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without?” If we destroy our enemy but lose what defines our freedom in the process, have we really won?

If we allow one man to charge Americans as enemy combatants and indefinitely detain or drone them, then what exactly is it our brave young men and women are fighting for?

Montesquieu wrote that there can be no liberty if you combine the Executive and the Legislative branches. Likewise, there can be no justice if you combine the Executive and Judicial branch into one.

We separated arrest and accusation from trial and verdict for a reason. When Lewis Carroll’s white queen shouts sentence first, verdict afterwards, the reader’s response is supposed to be ‘But that would be absurd!’

In our country, the police can arrest, but only your peers can convict. We prize our Bill of Rights like no other country. Our Bill of Rights is what defines us and makes us exceptional.

To those who would dismiss this debate as frivolous, I say tell that to the heroic young men and women who have sacrificed their limbs and lives, tell it to the 6,000 parents whose kids died as American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, tell them that the Bill of Rights is no big deal. FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT IN PDF FORMAT" VIDEO & TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Paul Addresses 40th Annual Conservative Political Action Conference