Paul Ryan is out of touch with working class Americans

Mount Pleasant, WI- Democratic nominee for Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District Ryan Solen knows the dire circumstances working class families face as “unemployment still haunts Americans as more companies ship jobs overseas in the sick pursuit of ever wider profit margins while lowering their tax profile.” He cares about workers; it is why he spent Labor Day celebrating unions and showing his support for better working conditions alongside longtime union supporter, former Senator and current Senate candidate Russ Feingold.

On a different Labor Day, in 2011, Paul Ryan marched down the streets of Janesville in a parade. One unemployed Wisconsin worker was filmed asking Paul Ryan his plans to help unemployed constituents. He asked the now-Speaker, “So what should I have to work for to get a job?” the man asked. “Should I have to work the same wages as in China? Should I have to work for $1 an hour?”

Paul Ryan tried to brush him off—much as he keeps brushing off Ryan Solen’s request to debate.

When the man persisted, Paul Ryan replied, “C’mon, we’re all here to have a good time.”

Someone reminded the Representative that it was Labor Day. That it just might be a good day to, perhaps, discuss unemployment and plans to help his constituents. Caught off guard, he responded, “Would you like some candy? Would you like a Packer-Badger schedule?”

Paul Ryan: hardly a champion of the unemployed.

The virtue of austerity does not apply to Paul Ryan. He likes his $350 per bottles of wine.  He likes them so much that in 2011, the same year he offered an unemployed worker candy at a Labor Day parade, he drank two bottles in just one night while dining with a pair of conservative economists.

That tab—$700 just for the wine—would feed a family of four for a month.

In 2013, Paul Ryan vigorously championed against extending federal unemployment benefits to some 4.1 million Americans who exhausted their state benefits. That extension had been agreed to among Republicans and Democrats 13 times since 2008.

In a 2013 interview with Fox News, he stated, “We have a lot of evidence showing [the extension] will prolong unemployment.” No such proof exists.

The Wisconsin Budget Project reported that when Congress terminated the federal unemployment extension just after Christmas, 23,700 long-term unemployed Wisconsinites were cut off immediately without benefits.  An additional 41,800 state residents would exhaust state-funded unemployment benefits within six months. In sum, 65,500 Wisconsinites—equivalent to the population in Eau Claire—would have no way to pay for their food or mortgage in 2014.

It’s no wonder Paul Ryan continues to avoid debates with Ryan Solen. Paul Ryan can’t come up with any solid facts as to how federally extended benefits would prolong unemployment. He must know he can only offer, at best, a feeble attempt to justify his flawed logic. People in Wisconsin would surely be as appalled as Senator Rand Paul that the current speaker left 4.1 million Americans stranded without a “vital lifeline.”

Ryan Solen asks his fellow Wisconsinites in the First Congressional District to remember Paul Ryan’s comments at that 2011 Labor Day parade in Janesville when they go to vote on November 8th. He hopes voters will remember how Paul Ryan spent close to $1,000 of taxpayers’ money for one meal in 2011 while cynically offering an unemployed constituent candy and a Packer-Badger schedule.

About Ryan Solen

Ryan Solen is an Army veteran of the war in Iraq and is seeking to represent Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District. He is a Digital Forensic Specialist and Computer Security Analyst. He is a married father of four and enjoys reading, writing, doing karate with his family, and relieves stress with his vintage Lego collection.
He is the Wisconsin Democratic Party’s Nominee to run for the U.S. House of Representatives to replace Paul Ryan. For more information, please visit www.solenforcongress.com.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.