As American voters relax following the excitement of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, it appears another Paul Ryan inconsistency has emerged. The Republican vice presidential hopeful, who has vehemently spoken and voted against "Obamacare," or the Affordable Care Act, was found to have requested money for his home state of Wisconsin, which was allocated for health-center expansion under President Obama's plan, according to the Nation. The Huffington Post followed up with Ryan's campaign manager for details.
"This grant program was created by President Bush, not Obamacare. This … type of misinformation is what you get from gotcha reporting on liberal blogs," Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck said, taking a swipe at The Nation …
It's true that former President George W. Bush and the Republican-led Congress doubled funding for community health centers in what was Bush's largest effort to address lack of access to health care for the poor.
But contrary to the response from the Romney-Ryan campaign, the money Ryan asked for would have come directly from President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. The health care law boosts funding by $11 billion for the country's roughly 8,000 community health centers that treat more than 20 million people. That money comes on top of a $2 billion increase for community health centers that was part of the 2009 economic stimulus package.
But the response from Ryan's spokesman also raises a question about the candidate's philosophy on federal spending on health care: Why would he consider dollars approved by Bush to be a good use of money, but funds approved by Obama to be bad?
"Don't dumb things down," Buck suggested to HuffPost. "You think he's opposed to all federal spending on health care? Health care spending makes up a significant portion of his budget."
See the Ryan's letter at the Nation and read more at the Huffington Post.