House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has been chosen as the vice presidential selection of presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney.
In Ryan, Romney brings to the national ticket one of his partys rising stars, as well as a tea party favorite. Romney and Ryan are billed by the campaign as "America's comeback team."
What theyre saying across Florida:
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Miami, via Twitter
"@MittRomney has made a great choice picking @RepPaulRyan for #VP."
Florida Agriculture Commission Adam Putnam, via Twitter
Happy for my friend & former colleague Paul Ryan. I wish he & his family the very best in this life changing moment. He is a great pick.
U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta
"I'm excited about the selection of my friend Paul Ryan to be our next vice president. Paul understands better than anyone else the fiscal challenges our country faces after four years of President Obama, and he's shown the courage to face those challenges head-on. He knows that to get our economy going and help Americans get back to work, we have to change course from the failed big-spending, big-government policies of the Obama administration. Most importantly, I am confident that he would be ready to step in on day one and lead this country as commander in chief.
Ryan is a great pick. Game on!
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, via Twitter
#PaulRyan wants to privatize Social Security. Looking forward to welcoming Mitt and his pick to Florida. Theres nothing brave about cutting the programs that Americas seniors rely on for their health and financial security.
Florida Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, via Twitter
Romney/Ryan...nice alliteration! Seems to have fired up the base. Good choice?
Adam Hasner, Republican U.S. House candidate, via Twitter
Bold choice. Selection of @paulryanvp will focus campaign on how to tackle the real challenges of unsustainable deficits and growing economy.
Obama for America Campaign Manager Jim Messina
In naming Congressman Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney has chosen a leader of the House Republicans who shares his commitment to the flawed theory that new budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy, while placing greater burdens on the middle class and seniors, will somehow deliver a stronger economy.
"Yes, the Ryan selection is a risky pick to a certain extent, but as the saying goes, fortune favors the bold. There will no doubt be many people who will think that Romneys pick of Ryan is going to cost him many votes with seniors -- particularly here in Florida -- because of his signature Ryan Plan budget that incrementally transitions Medicare into a premium support plan -- a plan that Democrats have fiercely demagogued and opposed. But seniors who are susceptible to the Democrats misleading rhetoric on Medicare and unwilling to confront the realities surrounding Medicares finances were unlikely to have voted for Romney anyway."
Marc Caputo, Miami Herald
At least in the short term, Ryans selection will transform the presidential campaign into a policy-heavy discussion about the two biggest and most popular entitlement programs in Florida and the nation, Medicare and Social Security, which Ryan once wanted to partly privatize.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott
"Congratulations to Governor Romney on picking Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate.
Like Governor Romney, Congressman Ryan understands that government doesn't create jobs, people do. And that the best way to create jobs is to get government out of the way. I'm confident that Congressman Ryan will be a great partner for Governor Romney in getting America back to work.
RPOF Chairman Lenny Curry
"I commend Governor Mitt Romney on selecting vice presidential candidate Congressman Paul Ryan. Congressman Ryan's record of staunch fiscal responsibility is exactly the type of leadership America needs at this time. For years he has offered innovative ideas on how to fix some of the greatest problems facing our nation, such as reducing the federal deficit and reforming entitlement programs to ensure they are available for future generations.
"America's Comeback Team is a fitting name for Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan -- when I think of what their combination of common-sense, conservative leadership can do for our country, I have high hopes for what lies ahead. I congratulate Congressman Ryan on receiving this honor today, and I look forward to working closely with their campaign to ensure that they achieve victory in Florida this November."
Former Florida Governor, Jeb Bush
"Ryan's command of economic policy and the federal budget will prove invaluable as Romney fights to reform government, accelerate job growth and rein in the out-of-control spending that has been a hallmark of President Obama's years in office.
"This is a courageous choice and the type of leadership American voters deserve."
U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV, R-Fort Myers
"Paul Ryan understands the priorities needed to put our nation back on the road to more freedom, less government and renewed prosperity. I have known and worked with Paul Ryan since being elected to the Congress and was outraged time and again when his ideas to move our nation forward were killed by a liberal Senate. Now our party can give him the right platform and a Senate that will no longer be flawed and unworkable. With great pride, we all unite today behind the Romney-Ryan ticket."
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Orlando, via Facebook
"Romney VP pick bad for seniors. Signals an end to Medicare as we know it. My commitment to Medicare never stronger."
U.S Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston
Congressman Ryan laid the groundwork in Congress for Mitt Romneys budget-busting scheme that gives an additional $250,000 tax cut for millionaires while punishing middle-class families with tax hikes of up to $2,000 a year. This tried and failed trickle-down economics scheme is familiar and troubling: cuts to education and other job creating initiatives, ending Medicare as we know it and saddling our seniors with the bill all to pay for more tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. And I can say with no doubt, middle class families and seniors in my home state of Florida want no part of a Romney-Ryan economic scheme that puts millionaires ahead of Medicare and throws the middle class under the bus to give more tax breaks to the wealthy.
The American middle-class and our seniors cannot afford to go back to the failed policies of the past, and it is unconscionable to ask them to foot the bill for the Romney-Ryan scheme. A Romney-Ryan ticket is sure to take us back and repeat the same catastrophic mistakes that got us into the mess we found ourselves in in the first place.
Florida Democratic Chairman Rod Smith
"In selecting Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney has crystalized the contrast of this election. Ryan is the architect of Romney's extreme budget plan which would end Medicare as we know it, increasing the health care costs for Florida's seniors by thousands every year. And both Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney support trillions in budget-busting tax cuts for millionaires paid for with tax hikes on the middle class and deep cuts in education and other investments we need to grow our economy. Both Romney and Ryan share a vision for America where the wealthiest few are prioritized over the middle class, students and seniors -- that's not a vision which will move our state or country forward, and it is a vision which Floridians will wholeheartedly reject."
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
