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At UW-Milwaukee, Ryan outlines solutions to save America’s safety net & expand economic opportunities

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By: AIF Staff

Milwaukee, WI — On Thursday, AIF President and former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan took part in a conversation with Charlie Sykes at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as part of the University’s Distinguished Lecture Series. In a wide-ranging discussion sponsored by the Tommy Thompson Center on Public Leadership, Ryan shared his thoughts on how to save America’s social safety net, ways to expand economic opportunity, and some of the major battles he waged while in Congress. He also detailed the policy recommendations outlined in the AEI-published book, American Renewal. 

Some interviews and articles associated with the event are excerpted below.

UWM Report: UWM students explore issues with former U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan

Ryan spoke to a gathering of about 25 students as part of the Meals with Meaning series hosted by UWM Student Involvement. The intimate gathering happened just before Ryan delivered the UWM Distinguished Lecture, co-hosted with the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership….

Many students attending were interested in Ryan’s stance on economic issues while he served in Congress. Ryan told the group he had intended to have a career as an economist rather than a long tenure in politics. The students varied in their political preferences and majors, but about a third were studying economics….

Sophomore Kate Jakubowski said she grew up interested in politics from a young age, even though she’s currently a double major in music performance and history. In the last year, she said, she had the chance to meet the Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and senators Tammy Baldwin and Cory Booker.

Ryan’s remarks at the event were not what she had expected.

“The thing that stuck with me the most that he really emphasized bipartisanship, and that’s something I feel like is missing in these days in Congress,” Jakubowski said. “And so I really appreciate his willingness to talk about that and to say that he has worked with people across the aisle….

Following the student meeting, Ryan also greeted Milwaukee leaders and UWM faculty in the Fireside Lounge before speaking to a crowd of just over 300 gathered for the Distinguished Lecture, moderated by political commentator Charlie Sykes.

In his discussion with Sykes, Ryan touched on a need to find and address the root causes of tuition inflation in higher education and also prioritize STEM disciplines. “UWM does pretty well in STEM,” he said. “I love the School of Freshwater Sciences here. I’ve toured it several times.”

WISN: On Upfront, Ryan shares thoughts on debt ceiling, entitlements, & polarization  

In an interview with WISN’s Matt Smith for Upfront, former Speaker Paul Ryan talked about his visit to UW-Milwaukee to discuss the AEI-produced book American Renewal, the debt ceiling, and his relationship with Speaker Kevin McCarthy. On entitlements, Ryan said:

“The current debate is awful. It is not serving anybody and what troubles me most is the current President and the last President are demagoguing this issue. What happens when you try to scare people with reckless rhetoric is we have bankruptcy and then these programs get cut for the current seniors. Let’s not forget Medicare and Social Security go insolvent in a decade which will mean cuts to these programs and which will lead to a debt crisis.

“The smart thing to do, knowing that is coming, is to step ahead of the problem, reform the programs so they can keep the promises [to current seniors], and be there for the next generation and avoid a debt crisis…. I passed four budgets in Congress and we lived to tell about it. You can propose reforms and you can vote on these reforms and politically survive. The problem is a lot of people lost that lesson…. [You can] keep the programs like they’re working today for those in or near retirement but for those 60 years old and below, you have to change your programs because they will be bankrupt by the time we retire.”

TMJ4: Ryan says Biden, Trump ‘playing politics’ with Social Security, Medicare

TMJ4’S Chief Political Reporter Charles Benson caught up with Ryan before his speaking event at UW-Milwaukee Thursday night.

Benson: Do you think Republicans should be having more conversations on college campuses?

Ryan: Absolutely, I do. That’s one of the reasons why I’m here. These are our future leaders, and our future leaders need to be part of a policy debate about the future.

Speaker Ryan left Congress four years ago after deciding not to seek re-election, but he still likes talking about policy issues – especially the need to keep Medicare and Social Security solvent….

“By demagoguing these issues, which I think both Trump and Biden are doing, they’re forfeiting the leadership mantle,” Ryan said. “They’re playing politics with these issues.”

Washington Post: Ryan says Biden, Trump put country at risk by swearing off changes to Medicare, Social Security

Former House speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) accused both President Biden and former president Donald Trump of putting the country at financial risk by swearing off making changes to Medicare and Social Security.

“Biden and Trump — and I lump them in the same sentence — Biden and Trump are doing the opposite of leadership,” Ryan said in an interview Tuesday. “They’re trying to scare people, and they’re playing political demagoguery with one of the most important issues facing our country this century….”

Ryan said he was frustrated that some of his fellow Republicans were walking away from an issue that they rallied around during his time as a top-ranking member of the House.

“Do I think our party has done some backsliding? Yes, because of Trump populism,” Ryan said in a telephone interview. “But I still believe there’s a very big core in our party that understands the magnitude of this issue, wants to be responsible and fix this problem before it gets ugly and out of control….”

Ryan said Republicans and Democrats need to address the cost of Medicare and Social Security now because the fiscal problem will become more difficult to solve as time passes. He said Republicans should not fear the issue because they survived politically when House Republicans passed his budget proposals.

“I think what happened in my party is people got intimidated by the politics. And Trump, who has chosen to engage in demagogic entitlement populism, has led a lot of people away from being responsible and from doing the right thing,” he said. “And the consequence of that, much like Biden’s politics, is to push us closer to bankruptcy.”

Fox 6: Ryan: If Trump is GOP presidential nominee, ‘we are going to lose’

Former Speaker Paul Ryan is warning Republicans they’ll lose if they nominate Donald Trump for president. In a new interview with FOX6, Ryan also defended his call for changes to Medicare and Social Security.

Ryan was in Milwaukee Thursday, Feb. 23 to speak at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and to talk about the new book he edited, “American Renewal….”

Ryan also defended some of the arguments laid out in a new book he edited. “American Renewal” lays out a conservative vision for the future, including changes for Medicare and Social Security….

“Every one of these proposals says don’t make changes to people who are in or near retirement presently. But, you need to make changes for those of us in the younger generation for two reasons: So that we don’t go bankrupt as a country, and these programs exist for them; but also, so you can cash flow the current promises to current seniors.

“The dangerous rhetoric that we’re seeing right now in Washington by both Presidents Biden and Trump is this demagoguery saying don’t touch these programs. With that, the other way of saying that is: ‘Let them go bankrupt and watch current seniors get hurt.’ Remember, within a decade, both Medicare and Social Security go insolvent.”

“So, that’s why we’re saying let’s get ahead of this problem. Let’s reform these programs so that they work better so that they’re solvent, so that we can keep the promises that have already been made to current seniors,” Ryan added. “The problem is that took me three or four sentences. It wasn’t as easy as demagoguing entitlement reform, which is what our current and former president are doing. It’s reckless. It’s the opposite of leadership. And my point is, we need to step ahead of this problem as a country, guarantee these benefits for current seniors and reform these programs, so they don’t go bankrupt.”

Click here to download a copy of American Renewal: A Conservative Plan to Strengthen the Social Contract and Save the Country’s Finances. 

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Ways & Means Committee advances MIECHV reauthorization, honoring Rep. Walorski & promoting evidence-based policies

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By: AIF Staff

Earlier this week, the House Committee on Ways and Means advanced legislation to reauthorize the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visitation (MIECHV) program   which supports expectant mothers and parents improve their lives and the lives of their young children through one-on-one home visits and intensive support.

The Committee honored the late Rep. Jackie Walorski, a long-time champion of the program, naming the legislation in her honor. As ranking Republican Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas noted during the Committee’s consideration of the bill:

“MIECHV is a critical program that supports vulnerable families and aims to improve the health of mothers and babies through pregnancy into the early years of a child’s life. It is a bipartisan bill and it reflects many of our Republican priorities, including increasing transparency about outcomes for families and targeting dollars to the neediest communities.

This bill would gradually increase funding from $400 million a year to $800 million a year over a five-year period, and introduce a state match as a way to expand overall service capacity across the country. The principle is simple: The federal government will invest where the states see value in investing.

It also ensures that new matching funds are allocated to states based on the number of children under five living below poverty – so funding goes where the greatest need exists.

The bill increases transparency by creating a state-by-state outcomes dashboard so we can see how interventions are impacting families, and maintains the current focus on high evidence standards.

Unlike many of our government programs, MIECHV is evidence-based – so we know the real impact on families and children and are able to direct funding toward what works.

The program has demonstrated success in supporting expecting families to increase healthy behaviors by coaching parents on child nutrition and development and mitigating risk factors to prevent child abuse and neglect.”

American Idea Foundation President Paul Ryan has long been an ardent supporter of the MIECHV program, which has been re-authorized under both Republican and Democratic Administrations.

The Ways and Means-passed legislation would build on the program’s strong base of evidence by increasing funding by $100 million and increasing the allocations for each state and territory. Given MIECHV has historically been funded by both federal and state governments, this reauthorization would increase the matching formula so for every $1 in state investments, the federal government would contribute $3.

It also would expand the transparency of data and evidence collected from the MIECHV program by adding additional reporting requirements and outcomes-based dashboards, which will help Congress track the impact of interventions over time. Even in a post COVID-19 environment, the legislation ensures that in-person, home visitations are required as part of the program which adds an important layer of accountability.

As Speaker Ryan stated during a visit to a Nurse-Family Partnership in South Carolina in 2021, MIECHV is changing lives and helping mothers, children, and communities across the country. It is an evidence-based success story  and the Ways and Means Committee should be commended for advancing this reauthorization which will help expand opportunities and fight poverty in a data-driven way.

CHIPS+ Act advances evidence-based policymaking via National Secure Data Service

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By: AIF Staff

This week, President Biden signed into law the CHIPS & Science Act of 2022. The legislation, which was primarily focused on making the United States more competitive with China, also included an important provision establishing a National Secure Data Service (NSDS) demonstration project at the National Science Foundation.

This may seem like a small accomplishment relative to the larger aims of the bill, but it’s an impactful one. Congress’ willingness to advance a National Secure Data Service demonstration project is a positive development for those who believe in evidence-based public policy-making and it is the product of years of hard work.

In 2015-2016, Speaker Ryan was a lead sponsor of legislation that created a bipartisan Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking. This Commission, put simply, was tasked by Congress to provide recommendations on how the federal government could secure, collect, and utilize data to construct effective public policies. 

One of their recommendations was to create a National Secure Data Service. In their 2017 report, the Commission succinctly described why this National Secure Data Service was necessary, saying in part:

 “Better access to these data holds the potential for substantial gains for society. The Commission’s recommendations recognize that the country’s laws and practices are not currently optimized to support the use of data for evidence building, nor in a manner that best protects privacy. To correct these problems, the Commission makes the following recommendations….

“Establish a National Secure Data Service to facilitate access to data for evidence building while ensuring privacy and transparency in how those data are used. As a state-of-the-art resource for improving government’s capacity to use the data it already collects, the National Secure Data Service will be able to temporarily link existing data and provide secure access to those data for exclusively statistical purposes in connection with approved projects.”

Going to great lengths to achieve a balance between data security and accessibility, the Commission also specified that the NSDS had to have specific privacy protections so data was protected.

Following the Commission’s recommendations, Congressman Don Beyer of Virginia introduced stand-alone legislation called National Secure Data Service Act in 2021. The bill would:

“Allow access to government data by qualified researchers for approved purposes, ensuring privacy and transparency for the data service’s activities. Beyer’s bill would create a NSDS demonstration project housed within the National Science Foundation to test and refine approaches that would inform the implementation of a government-wide data linkage and access infrastructure, with the goal of scaling up the project in the future.”

This language from Rep. Beyer’s bill was largely incorporated into the CHIPS & Science Act of 2022. The Data Coalition, one of the leading advocates for the National Secure Data Service, described the multi-year accomplishment this way:

“The NSDS will encourage government and research partners to organize, analyze, and use information in support of evidence-informed decision-making to improve society…. The NSDS can help government officials and researchers meet the demand from decision-makers for useful, high-quality evidence that is timely, relevant, reliable, and detailed enough to inform policy while protecting the privacy of individuals and businesses.”

In the context of an enormous bill focused on semiconductors and competition with China, the creation of a demonstration project for the NSDS may seem insignificant. In fact, it is a meaningful milestone and an instructive reminder for those who want to see greater adoption of evidence-based public policies at the federal level. 

The creation of the NSDS demonstration project shows that getting the government to prioritize evidence-based policy-making will take time. But the time and effort are well worth it because the advancement of the NSDS will ultimately lead to better data collection and data sharing practices by the government. This, in turn, will lead to more evidenced-based public policies and those policies have the ability to help more and more Americans in profound ways. In short, the National Secure Data Service was well worth fighting for.