Ryan: Obama doesn't actually think 'we have a fiscal crisis?

Ryan (NBC)

Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan lashed out at President Barack Obama on Sunday, saying the commander in chief does not have a full grasp of the budget problems facing the U.S. economy.

"I don't think that the president actually thinks we have a fiscal crisis," Ryan told NBC's David Gregory on "Meet The Press" in his first live interview since the 2012 presidential campaign, when he was Mitt Romney's running mate.

Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman repeatedly criticized President Obama's understanding of the national debt. "The president got his additional revenues," Ryan said. "So that's behind us."

The former Republican vice presidential candidate said that while Democrats may have gotten higher taxes on the wealthy as part of the New Year's deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, that's all they'll get.

"Are we for raising revenues? No we're not," Ryan said. "If you keep raising revenues, you're not going to get decent tax reform."

Ryan also addressed a pair politically-divisive issues: immigration reform and gun control. Via NBC:

Ryan, who has praised a bipartisan set of immigration reforms offered by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, said he was cautiously optimistic about the prospects for immigration reform this year. But Ryan said that Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike would closely watch Obama's speech on Tuesday in Nevada on that topic.

And of the president's gun control measures, Ryan suggested openness to embracing some measures--like requiring universal background checks on gun sales--while expressing skittishness toward other elements of the plan, like the ban on assault weapons.

And as far as his political aspirations for 2016 are concerned, Ryan said it's too early for him to talk about.

"I think it's just premature. I've got an important job to do," Ryan said. "I'll decide later about that."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/paul-ryan-meet-press-obama-fiscal-crisis-170944283--election.html

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