Politics & Government

Paul Ryan: Syria Strategy 'Poorly Handled'

Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, was the keynote speaker at the Waukesha County Business Alliance's annual meeting on Friday.

Congressman Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, told a group of 500 businessmen and businesswomen that he’s been “biting my tongue all week” in response to questions about the president’s plan for Syria. He was critical of the president, saying he should have reacted several years ago to help instead of now after other military organizations have started helping.

“I do not support this action,” Ryan said. “I don’t think the president has presently anything close to a coherent strategy.”

The situation in Syria “has been so poorly handled,” Ryan said, that it is damaging the United States’ creditability.

Find out what's happening in Waukeshawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The president is “delusional that we are going to get a peaceful outcome from this,” Ryan added.

ObamaCare, Tax Code

Ryan, who lost his bid to be vice president on the Republican ticket in 2012, has been a frequent opponent of Obama since the president was elected in 2008. He has also made it clear he is against ObamaCare since President Barack Obama began pushing the healthcare reforms in 2009.

Find out what's happening in Waukeshawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On Friday, he told members of the Waukesha County Business Alliance that he and others in the House of Representatives are trying to delay the implementation of the plan, saying that the health care reforms “aren’t ready for primetime.”

“We think ObamaCare is going to be a disaster,” Ryan said.

“Let’s delay this thing,” Ryan added later. “That is the case we are making.”

Ryan also told the attendees of the Waukesha County Business Alliance’s annual meeting in Brookfield that the nation also needs to pay down its debt and fix the tax code to prevent “carve outs” while reducing overall taxes.

“It is basically a bunch of people in Washington picking winners and losers,” Ryan said. “I call that crony capitalism.”


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Waukesha