Paul Ryan wants everyone in D.C. to remember the Rolling Stones.
“There’s this older British guy who says ‘you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find, you get what you need,” he said on Thursday’s Morning Joe with a smile.
Ryan is fighting for the budget he negotiated with Washington’s Sen. Patty Murray (D), but not everyone is happy. Major tea party-allied groups came out in advance of the deal to condemn it. Tea party darlings Sens. Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, all expressed disappointment in the deal, as well as a number of fiscal conservatives like Sen. Tom Coburn, who announced that he couldn’t support it on Wednesday’s Morning Joe.
Ryan acted unruffled by conservative groups’ hasty dismissal.
“I thought it was a little strange because the press releases came flying out against the agreement before Patty and I had actually reached an agreement,” Ryan said. “But I’m a big boy, I’ve been around for awhile, it doesn’t necessarily surprise me.”
In the House, Majority Leader John Boehner declared his allegiances to the compromise, smacking down the tea party forces splitting the party.
“They’re using our members, and they’re using the American people for their own goals,” he said in a Wednesday press conference. “This is ridiculous. Listen, if you’re for more deficit reduction, you’re for this agreement.”
While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell hasn’t publicly commented, there are rumors that he will vote against it.
On Morning Joe, Ryan raised an eyebrow at the senators who have come out against the deal.
“Read the deal and get back to me,” Ryan said. “In the minority you don’t have the burden of governing, of getting things done.”
“Here’s what this does: it reduces the deficit without raising taxes, we prevent the military from getting deeply cut again, and it prevents two government shutdowns this year,” Ryan said. “This isn’t our budget, this is a modest step in the right direction.”
Jane Timm