Paul Ryan’s Embarrassing Failure on the Budget: A Timeline

By: Meredith Kelly

THEN:

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NOW:

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House Republicans are about to blow through a statutory deadline to pass an annual budget, a major embarrassment for Speaker Paul Ryan that raises questions about his stewardship of the House despite his high profile on the national stage.”

 

The Embarrassing Paul Ryan Timeline:

Feb. 4, 2016: Ryan: “Look, One Thing I Have Some Experience Around Here Is Putting Together Budgets And Passing Budgets.” “I think we’re doing fine. Look, one thing I have some experience around here is putting together budgets and passing budgets. This is no different than any other year. We always have these family conversations about what our budget should look like and how our budget should be rolled out and what its contents are. I’m actually trying to have that family conversation earlier than we ever have before. Why? Because we have a constrained schedule this year. So normally we don’t do a budget until April. I am getting those conversations now so that we can get moving with our job faster, because I want to get these appropriations bills to the floor earlier.” [Speaker Ryan press conference, 2/4/16]

Feb. 11, 2016: Ryan: “April 15th Is The Deadline. . . . I Feel Very Strongly About Budgeting.”  RYAN: “Yeah, I mean, we never had a set deadline other than April 15th is the deadline. That’s usually when we do it. We want to do it earlier so we can get a jump on our appropriations process because we’re losing those weeks in July. So because of our schedule for 2016, we’re trying to get the budget moving earlier. Look, I was the chair of the Budget Committee. I feel very strongly about budgeting. I feel very strongly about getting a real working appropriations process so that we can reclaim the power of the purse. My views are very well known on this. We’re having the kind of family conversation.” [Speaker Ryan press conference, 2/11/16]

March 3, 2016: Ryan: “We Are Still On Track And On Schedule. . . . Our Deadline Is Not Until April 15th.” “We are still on track and on schedule. Remember, our deadline is not until April 15th for the budget resolution, so we still are a good month ahead of where we otherwise would be. I wanted to start this conversation early, because we’re losing a couple of weeks in July, so I wanted to get the process up front, so we can consider all of our appropriation bills. We’re still on track for that.” [Speaker Ryan press conference, 3/3/16]

March 17, 2016: Ryan: “I Envision A Lot Of Budgets Coming To The Floor.” “We’re going to be discussing this with our conference on how best to proceed. I envision a lot of budgets coming to the floor. I’ll bet progressives will have one. I bet the CBC will have one. I assume Van Hollen will probably have one for the Democrats; Budget Committee; RSC. For all I know, there may be other budgets. That’s always been the process. When that process occurs and under what circumstances is the decision we’ll make as a team.” [Speaker Ryan press conference, 3/17/16]

March 22, 2016: Ryan: “We Need To Do A Budget.”
“QUESTION: (inaudible) moving appropriations bills to the floor (inaudible)?
RYAN: No. No, we need to do a budget.” [House GOP press conference, 3/22/16]