Paul Ryan Talks Economic Growth With Charlie Sykes

Statement

Yesterday, Wisconsin's First District congressman and speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, spoke with WTMJ's Charlie Sykes.

Excerpts of Ryan's answers follow:

Discussing tax reform in the House Republican Agenda, A Better Way:

"The tax reform [plank] is the key. . . . We will drop the tax rate on . . . small business to no higher than 25 percent. Right now it is almost 45 percent effectively. We will give businesses . . . the ability to write off their investments in the year in which it takes place so they will be hire more people. We believe this is . . . pro-growth tax reform. The estimate from the Tax Foundation says it will create millions of jobs, it will create faster economic growth [and] more take-home pay. Tax reform . . . is one of the crown jewels of . . . unleashing economic growth, getting wages up, getting out of the doldrums of the Obama administration's slow-growth policies. This tax reform plan, we think, hits it just right way. We think it's fiscally responsible and it's an engine for economic growth, opportunity, and higher wages."

Passing mental health reforms:

"This is a bill that has been three years in the making. Tim Murphy, congressman from Pennsylvania, a clinical psychologist, has been working on this issue for years. So we believe that . . . dealing with mental health reform is very important. . . . We think we have huge gaps in our mental health laws that need to be fixed."

"We want to make sure terrorists don't get guns without infringing on citizens' rights. We want to make sure our mental health laws are modernized, and they haven't been for decades, so that we can early intervene in case there is someone who is really unstable so they don't get weapons."

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