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Ryan Sees Opportunities With Appropriations Seat
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Even with tight federal resources becoming even tighter with the looming “fiscal cliff,” U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan says the federal government still spends money and makes investments, making his reappointment to the House Appropriations Committee still very valuable for the Mahoning Valley.
The Niles Democrat’s office announced Tuesday that Ryan had been named again to the influential committee, on which he served after the 2006 elections until two years ago, when Republicans won a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and the number of seats for Democrats on the panel was reduced.
“Even in tough budget times there are still billions of dollars that get invested into research” and into agencies and departments such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense and Department of Energy, Ryan said. “By being on the committee you are in the middle of those decisions that are being made.”
Although Democrats do not control the House, Ryan, who will represent Ohio’s 13th District in the next Congress, is in a “very small group of people making the decisions as to what the priorities are in the country, and that’s a good place for our community to be in,” he said Wednesday during a conference call with reporters.
His presence on the committee also puts him in a position to bring additional resources, for example, to the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute downtown, Ryan said. “That’s a federal program. That’s not an earmark. That’s a federal program that we can continue to beef up and try to invest in,” he remarked.
The call lasted for about 20 minutes and included one question that asked Ryan to comment on his arrest in Lexington, Va., in August on a charge of public intoxication. Ryan replied the fact that the charge was dismissed by the hearing judge earlier this month speaks for itself. No further inquiries were made by reporters and no additional statement was made by the congressman.
If President Obama and congressional Republicans can’t come to an agreement by Dec. 31, triggering the combination of across-the-board spending cuts and tax increases referred to as the fiscal cliff, the resulting cuts would lead to an “incremental withdrawal of money from the economy” which could potentially lead to a double-dip recession, Ryan warned.
“We’re really stuck in an ideological battle with very conservative Tea Party members in the House of Representatives [who] need to learn that you don’t get everything you want in life and you have to compromise in every relationship you have,” he said. Up to this point Republicans "have not really offered anything of substance,” he said.
Ryan acknowledged his reappointment to Appropriations likely would mean he would not run for Ohio governor in 2014. His name is frequently mentioned among possible challengers to Gov. John Kasich, along with former Gov. Ted Strickland, who Kasich unseated two years ago, and Cuyahoga County Executive Ed Fitzgerald.
“I honestly haven’t been giving it a whole lot of thought,” Ryan said. He added that he likely would decide “very early next year.”
Tom Humphries, president of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, said he is pleased to see Ryan reappointed to the Appropriations Committee. “If you look at the record of his previous service on Appropriations, our community was rewarded by his work,” he said. “He really does understand the appropriations process and we can expect his help on various community initiatives in the future.”
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who served in the House with Ryan prior to his election to the Senate in 2006, described Ryan as a “valuable advocate” for the Mahoning Valley and northeastern Ohio. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, Ryan “will play a key role in ensuring that our state gets its fair share of federal resources that advance economic growth,” Brown said. “I congratulate him on his appointment and look forward to our continued work together.”
Brown, who was just elected to a second six-year term, was selected by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to serve on the Senate Finance Committee, which handles matters related to taxation, bonded U.S. debt, trade issues, and health programs under the Social Security Act including Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s health insurance Program and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.
The appointment required Brown to relinquish his Senate Appropriations seat, a Brown spokeswoman said.
“My biggest priority is to help build the middle class, and this committee provides a great opportunity to do so: from ensuring a fair tax code, to standing up for Ohio's manufacturers and workers when it comes to foreign trade, to protecting Social Security and Medicare,” Brown said. “I'm also honored to continue serving Ohio's nearly one million veterans on the Veterans Committee, to support the one in seven Ohio jobs tied to farming and food on the Agriculture Committee, and to continue my work on the Banking Committee on behalf of customers and workers in the financial services and housing industries that are so important to our state.”
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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