Lunchtime Must-Read: Ezra Klein: Paul Ryan’s Poverty Plan

Ezra Klein: Paul Ryan’s Poverty Plan: “P
The most important idea in Paul Ryan’s poverty plan…

…reverses the most important idea in Paul Ryan’s budgets. Those budgets… [made] deep cuts to spending on programs for the poor the cornerstone of Republican fiscal policy… cut spending on the programs that fight poverty. Ryan’s poverty plan is… a sharp break with his budgets… an attempt to change the Republican Party’s view–a view driven, in large part, by Paul Ryan and his budgets–of what to do with programs for the poor….

This was a bit like hearing the Kool-Aid Man say that he only ever drank Kool-Aid for the money, and in truth, he thinks kids should drink more tap water, instead. But… this is a return to Ryan’s roots. Though he’s made his name as the GOP’s chief crusader against deficits… Ryan’s actual record… included a series of votes that massively increased the deficit… to wrench policy… conservative… George W. Bush’s tax cuts… the war in Iraq… the unfunded Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit. Prior to Barack Obama’s presidency, Ryan was best known for the Social Security Personal Savings Guarantee and Prosperity Act… $2.4 trillion in additional costs over the first 10 years… [that] the Bush administration ultimately dismissed… as ‘irresponsible’…