Paul Ryan was for the defense cuts he did or did not vote for before he was against the defense cuts he did or did not vote for.
Do you follow? Me neither.
via ThinkProgress
SEAN HANNITY (FOX NEWS, HOST): Alright. How much are we getting the first year and how much are we getting the second year? How much is in defense? And how do we hold future congresses accountable to what you’re doing today?
RYAN: Right, right, that’s a good question. So, $21 billion right away for the first fiscal year. Then it’s about $46, I think, that’s off the top of my head, for the second fiscal year. How much out of defense in the first fiscal year will be $9 billion from what we call the security accounts. That’s not just defense. That’s all security. The Homeland Security, National Security. And then $2 billion to $4 billion the next year. So, the cuts on defense are — were minimized quite a bit by the most recent agreement John Boehner reached.
That was Paul Ryan in August of last year.
Here's Paul Ryan yesterday.
O’DONNELL: Right. A trillion dollars in defense spending, and you voted for it!
RYAN: No, Norah. I voted for the Budget Control Act.
O’DONNELL: That included defense spending!
RYAN: Norah, you’re mistaken.
Substance!
The "agreement John Boehner reached" is the agreement wherein John Boehner claimed he acquired "98 percent of what [he] wanted." Paul Ryan voted for that agreement. Ryan would detail the cuts to defense spending to Sean Hannity shortly after a final agreement was reached.
Norah O'Donnell was clearly not mistaken, and Paul Ryan is a terrible liar.
It was not without consequences to the economy, but it's amusing that the Republicans are still suffering from the rope-a-dope President Obama pulled on them last year with the Budget Control Act.
I can only imagine the knots Republicans will twist themselves into next year as they try to pretend they didn't vote for a blueprint that included the imminent expiration of the Bush Tax Cuts. They may not live it down until the next election.