{"id":29879,"date":"2011-06-10T11:17:46","date_gmt":"2011-06-10T17:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=29879"},"modified":"2011-06-13T07:45:56","modified_gmt":"2011-06-13T13:45:56","slug":"sanchez-takes-different-stances-on-%e2%80%98similar%e2%80%99-ryan-budget-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/06\/sanchez-takes-different-stances-on-%e2%80%98similar%e2%80%99-ryan-budget-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanchez takes different stances on \u2018similar\u2019 Ryan budget plans"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Sanchez<\/p><\/div>\n

Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Sanchez<\/a> recently attacked primary opponent Heather Wilson<\/a> for praising U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan\u2019s<\/a> attempt to steer the budget conversation this year even though she voted against a \u201csimilar\u201d Ryan budget amendment in 2007.<\/p>\n

Sanchez\u2019s assault came earlier this week in response to an NMPolitics.net interview<\/a> in which Wilson praised efforts by Ryan to steer the conversation about the budget<\/a> and said he had done a service to the nation by presenting substantive ideas. In that interview, Wilson didn\u2019t take a position on Ryan\u2019s budget plan.<\/p>\n

Sanchez pointed out in a news release that Wilson was one of 40 GOP House members to vote against a 2007 budget amendment proposed by Ryan that Sanchez called \u201csimilar\u201d to Ryan\u2019s current proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cCandidate Heather Wilson is the same liberal tax-and-spender as Congresswoman Heather Wilson,\u201d Sanchez spokesman Corbin Casteel said. \u201cShe cannot run from her embarrassing record as a big-spending Washington insider.\u00a0She has the conservative talking points memorized, but the voters of New Mexico will know better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attack was the latest in the fighting between the two candidates. Both have declined to take a definitive stance on the current budget proposal from Ryan, which would cut trillions of dollars from the federal budget.<\/p>\n

Support for one; no commitment on other<\/h3>\n

I wondered, if Sanchez is attacking Wilson for voting against Ryan\u2019s 2007 amendment, does that mean he would have supported it?<\/p>\n

Yes, Sanchez would have voted for the 2007 amendment if he had been in the U.S. House at the time, Casteel told NMPolitics.net. The amendment would have cut $279 billion in spending, most of it out of health-care entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. It also would have extended the Bush tax cuts.<\/p>\n

OK. If Sanchez would have supported that 2007 amendment that slashed health-care programs and extended tax cuts, and that amendment was \u201csimilar\u201d to this year\u2019s proposal from Ryan, does that mean Sanchez supports the Ryan budget?<\/p>\n

Casteel didn\u2019t directly answer the question, instead leaving Sanchez in limbo by pointing to the candidate\u2019s prior statement<\/a> on the Ryan budget:<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t seen a perfect budget solution yet, but Paul Ryan\u2019s is a very good start. We must rein in government spending. It is immoral to spend money we don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Casteel said Sanchez wants to ensure that seniors are protected and promises to them are kept. He didn\u2019t say whether Sanchez believes the Ryan budget does that.<\/p>\n

Apparently not \u2018similar\u2019 enough<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s the rub \u2013 Sanchez, like Wilson and many other Republicans, is being noncommittal. The Santa Fe New Mexican has called Ryan\u2019s proposal the Republican Party\u2019s \u201cCatch-22\u201d<\/a> because it would dramatically overhaul Medicare by changing it from a plan that directly pays for health care to one that subsidizes private insurance.<\/p>\n

From The New Mexican:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem for Republicans is that the Ryan plan is unpopular among older voters \u2013 and unlike their younger counterparts, older voters tend to vote. At the same time, the Ryan plan is highly popular with the GOP base, which is far more conservative than general-election voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cFox News commentator Juan Williams warned in a commentary Friday, \u2018The GOP had better come up with an effective explanation or defense of the Ryan plan before 2012, or the gains they made in 2010 will be erased.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, while there may be some similarities between Ryan\u2019s 2007 amendment and his current budget plan, they apparently aren\u2019t \u201csimilar\u201d enough that Sanchez\u2019s support for one equals support for the other \u2013 even if he did criticize Wilson for voting against one and then praising Ryan\u2019s efforts on the other.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Sanchez is attacking Heather Wilson for praising Rep. Paul Ryan\u2019s budget efforts this year after voting against what Sanchez calls a \u201csimilar\u201d budget amendment in 2007. But don\u2019t assume that means Sanchez has a consistent stance on the \u201csimilar\u201d plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[156,118,107,116],"class_list":["post-29879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2012-election","tag-economy","tag-roundhouse","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29879\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}