Paul Ryan and the other John Boehner, Paul Ryan and the rest of the Republicans talk a good game now about the need for fiscal responsibility and reining in spending. But they have been a big part of the problem, Lisa Lerer writes on Bloomberg
... [Speaker John Boehner], House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all voted for major drivers of the nation’s debt during the past decade: Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts and Medicare prescription drug benefits. They also voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, that rescued financial institutions and the auto industry. Together, according to datacompiled by Bloomberg News, these initiatives added $3.4 trillion to the nation’s accumulated debt and to its current annual budget deficit of $1.5 trillion.