Memo on the Progress of the Paul Ryan Too Fancy Campaign

From: Charlie Kelly, Executive Director for the House Majority PAC

To: Interested Parties

Date: October 17, 2017

Subject: Memo on the Progress of the Paul Ryan Too Fancy Campaign

Paul Ryan’s a career D.C. politician who puts the rich first, and the American people know it. In fact, in a nationwide poll, 51 percent of Americans disapprove of Ryan’s job performance.

For too long, Ryan’s been given a free pass for pushing an agenda that benefits millionaires and billionaires at the expense of the middle-class. That’s why HMP recently launched a campaign exposing Paul Ryan’s agenda for what it really is, a handout to the wealthy and special interests. As part of the campaign, HMP released a digital ad highlighting the healthcare plan that Ryan pushed through the U.S. House of Representatives, the American Health Care Act (AHCA). In tandem with the digital ad, HMP launched a “Fancy Paul Ryan” website, which highlights his horrendous agenda, from taking away healthcare to gutting consumer protections, all to give tax cuts to the ultra-rich.

Ryan’s Agenda:

Ryan owns this agenda, from trying to increase healthcare costs, to gutting consumer protections, to slashing funding for critical programs for millions of families, Ryan puts the rich first every step of the way.

Ryan has been fighting to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for over seven years, and this year he was able to push a terrible replacement, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), through the U.S. House of Representatives. The AHCA is a bad deal for the American people. It makes indefensible cuts to Medicaid, while financing tax cuts for the ultra-rich at the expense of hardworking Americans. Under this bill, nearly 50,000 people in WI-01 would lose healthcare coverage and older Americans would be hit with an “Age Tax,” which would increase their premiums by up to five times more than younger people.
One of Ryan’s priorities this year was gutting important rules of the road known as Dodd-Frank. These were protections put in place after the Great Recession, and yet, with Ryan’s leadership, the GOP House voted to gut these critical provisions all because Wall Street wanted them gone. It’s clear that Ryan is putting the wishes of Wall Street and their executives over hardworking Americans. In fact, one of the main provisions in this bill would be to virtually eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which defends citizens against abusive, predatory, and deceptive practices by big corporations. It’s no surprise that he is choosing Wall Street over his constituents, since he has received more than $6 million from the financial services industry.
Throughout his career, Paul Ryan has proven again and again that he champions extreme budgets and radical policies that only serve as giveaways to corporations and the rich on the backs of hardworking Americans. His budgets have sought to undermine critical investments, including slashing funding for infrastructure and education, ending Medicare as we know it, and making deep cuts to Medicaid. Ryan has repeatedly worked to dismantle Social Security, having openly called for its privatization, and authored legislation that created private accounts. It’s clear that the American people don’t benefit, only special interests and the wealthy.

Polling:

Public polling is showing just how unpopular Paul Ryan is across the country. According to public polls, nationwide Paul Ryan has a job disapproval of 51 percent, and an unfavorable rating of 54 percent.

Also, in districts across the country, polling from our ally Patriot Majority USA shows just how unpopular Paul Ryan is, and how he and his out-of-touch agenda is a drag on incumbents and open seat Republican candidates. Thepolls surveyed voters in 9 critical districts, AZ-02, CA-49, CO-06, IA-01, IA-03, ME-02, MN-02, PA-06 and VA-10, and found that Paul Ryan had an average approval rating of 24 percent and a disapproval rating of 64 percent – a net negative of 40%. In the three open seats polled, PA-15, MI-11 and WA-08, Paul Ryan had an average approval rating of just 22 percent and a disapproval rating of 64 percent.

The numbers don’t lie; Paul Ryan is unpopular, and GOP House incumbents and candidates alike will pay the price at the polls next November.

Conclusion:

HMP and other democratic and progressive groups will continue to expose Paul Ryan and his agenda for what it really is, a plan that puts the rich first while leaving the middle-class in the rearview-mirror. The American people will not stand for this, because they want their elected officials to focus on creating policies that lift up hardworking middle-class families.