Political positions of Paul Ryan

Republican

In the 111th Congress, Ryan sided with a majority of Republicans in 93% of House votes in which he has participated, and sided with the overall majority vote of all House votes 95% of the time.

Ryan chaired the 2016 Republican National Convention. Asked on June 19, 2016 on Meet the Press about his support for Donald Trump, Ryan said "The last thing I want to see happen is another Democrat in the White House"; Ryan denied the characterization of his position by interviewer Chuck Todd as "party over country."

Conservative

Ryan is "proudly, conservatively ideological" and "religiously conservative," according to The New York Times in 2012. Ryan was rated the 39th most conservative member of the 2008 House. The 2011 National Journal Vote Ratings rated Paul Ryan 68.2 on the conservative scale, being more conservative than 68% of the full House, and ranked as the 150th most conservative member based on roll-call votes. Ryan has a lifetime American Conservative Union rating of 91/100.

Fiscal policy

In 1995, as the top legislative aide for freshman representative Sam Brownback of Kansas, Ryan helped lead the policy team for a group of conservative freshman representatives who called themselves the New Federalists and advocated shrinking the federal government by eliminating federal government departments, spending cuts, and restructuring entitlement spending.

Ryan has an interest in political economics and has been a thought leader in Congress on issues of budget reform. Ryan helped bring the issues of the national debt and the national deficit into the national policy debate. Ryan subscribes to supply-side economics. His positions on fiscal policy have included tax cuts, freezes on discretionary spending, cuts to entitlement programs, privatization of social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and education, deregulation, and the elimination of inflation increases in calculating budget baselines.

Budget proposals and budgetary process reform proposals

In 2008, in his sixth term, Ryan began introducing budget proposals as a member of the House, distinct from his contributions to budget proposals in his capacities as a member and later ranking member and chair of the House Budget Committee. Ryan's budget proposals were embraced by many of the Tea Party movement-inspired freshman Representatives elected to Congress in the 2010 midterm elections.

Ryan supports a line-item veto.

Roadmaps

In early 2007, Ryan briefed members of the House Ways and Means Committee on his plans to draft a "Roadmap for America's Future." On May 21, 2008, Ryan introduced H.R. 6110, the Roadmap for America's Future Act of 2008, commonly referred to as the "Ryan budget". This proposed legislation outlined changes to entitlement spending, including a controversial proposal to replace Medicare with a voucher program for those currently under the age of 55. The Roadmap found only eight sponsors and did not move past committee.

On April 1, 2009, Ryan introduced his alternative to the 2010 United States federal budget. This alternative budget would have eliminated the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and imposed a five-year spending freeze on all discretionary spending. It would have also phased out Medicare's traditional fee-for-service model; instead it would offer fixed sums in the form of vouchers for those under the age of 55, with which Medicare beneficiaries could buy private insurance. Ryan's proposed budget would also have allowed taxpayers to opt out of the federal income taxation system with itemized deductions, and instead pay a marginal tax rate 10 percent of adjusted gross income up to $100,000 for couples ($50,000 for singles) and 25 percent on any remaining income. It was ultimately rejected in the Democratic controlled House by a vote of 293–137, with 38 Republicans in opposition.

On January 27, 2010, the day of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, Ryan reintroduced a modified version of his Roadmap, H.R. 4529: Roadmap for America's Future Act of 2010. The modified plan would provide across-the-board tax cuts by reducing income tax rates; eliminate income taxes on capital gains, dividends, and interest; and abolish the estate tax and Alternative Minimum Tax. The plan would also replace the corporate income tax with a border-adjusted business consumption tax of 8.5%. The plan would privatize a portion of Social Security and reduce benefits for those under 55, eliminate the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance, and privatize Medicare and Medicaid.

Chief actuary of Medicare Rick Foster compared Ryan's "Roadmap" with the 2010 healthcare reform in congressional hearings, stating that while both had "some potential" to make healthcare prices "more sustainable", he was more "confident" in Ryan's plan. Economist and columnist Paul Krugman criticized Ryan's plan as making overly optimistic assumptions and proposing tax cuts for the wealthy. Krugman further called the plan a "fraud" saying it relies on severe cuts in domestic discretionary spending and "dismantling Medicare as we know it" by suggesting the voucher system, which he noted was similar to a failed attempt at reform in 1995. In contrast, columnist Ramesh Ponnuru, writing in the National Review, argued that Ryan's plan would lead to less debt than current budgets. Economist Ted Gayer wrote that "Ryan's vision of broad-based tax reform, which essentially would shift us toward a consumption tax... makes a useful contribution to this debate."

The 2010 version of the Roadmap found only 14 cosponsors. On August 31, 2010, the National Republican Congressional Committee requested members not to defend the Roadmap, noting its proposal to privatize social security.

Paths to prosperity

In the 2010 midterm elections, Ryan advised and endorsed Republican candidates in the primaries and general elections, and Ryan's budget proposals were embraced by many of the Tea Party movement-inspired freshman Representatives.

On April 11, 2011, Ryan introduced H.Con.Res. 34, a federal budget for fiscal year 2012, known as "The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America's Promise." The proposed plan included repealing the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the "ACA" and as "Obamacare," the privatization of Medicare through issuing vouchers for private insurance, and block granting Medicaid funding to the states. Income tax rates were lowered. Increases in defense spending, and decreases in federal funding for Medicaid and for health insurance for children, were proposed.

On April 5, 2011 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tweeted that the The Path to Prosperity was "a path to poverty for America's seniors and children." On April 13, 2011, Obama said "I don't think there's anything courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it." The House passed the Ryan plan on April 15, 2011, by a vote of 235–193. Four Republicans joined all House Democrats in voting against it. On an April 27, 2011 conference call with reporters Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that passage of the Ryan plan "would be one of the worst things to happen to this country." On May 25, 2011, the Ryan budget plan was defeated in the Senate by a vote of 57–40, with five Republicans and most Democrats in opposition.

On March 23, 2012 Ryan introduced a new version of his federal budget for the fiscal year 2013, known as "The Path to Prosperity: A Blueprint for American Renewal." Ryan's budget proposed reducing all discretionary spending in the budget from 12.5% of GDP in 2011 to 3.75% of GDP in 2050. On March 29, 2012, the House of Representatives passed the resolution along partisan lines, 228 yeas to 191 nays; ten Republicans voted against the bill, along with all the House Democrats. The bill was defeated in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

An analysis by the CBO showed that the Ryan plan would not balance the budget for at least 28 years, partly because the changes in Medicare would not affect anyone now older than 55. Former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker and Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, praised the budget for making tough choices. Walker believes it needs to go even further, tackling Social Security and defense spending. In contrast, David Stockman, Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan, has declared that Ryan's budget "is devoid of credible math or hard policy choices" and would "do nothing to reverse the nation's economic decline and arrest its fiscal collapse". Ezra Klein also criticized the budget for making "unrealistic assumptions". The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities was highly critical of Ryan's budget proposal, stating that it would shift income to the wealthy while increasing poverty and inequality.

Parts of the 2012 Ryan budget were criticized by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for its proposed cuts to housing and food stamp programs. Faculty and administrators of Georgetown University challenged what they described as Ryan's misapplication of Catholic social teaching in defending his plan, but Ryan rejected their criticism.

Most of the proposed policies in Ryan's agenda were unpopular with the majority of Americans, and Democrats took issue with them in the 2012 election.

The 113th Congress (2013) and the fiscal year 2014 budget

Ryan supported a group of three budget reform bills that were considered in the House during the 113th United States Congress. Ryan supported H.R. 1874, the Pro-Growth Budgeting Act of 2013, which would have required the Congressional Budget Office to provide a macroeconomic impact analysis for bills that are estimated to have a large budgetary effect. He also supported H.R. 1872, the Budget and Accounting Transparency Act of 2014, which would have modify the budgetary treatment of federal credit programs, including requiring the federal budget to reflect the net impact of programs administered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, such that the debt of those two programs would be included in the national debt. He also supported H.R. 1871, the Baseline Reform Act of 2013, which would have discontinued the practice of automatic increases for inflation in projecting discretionary appropriations in CBO's baseline budgeting. Arguing in favor of H.R. 1871, Ryan said that "families don't get automatic raises every year. Neither should Washington." Ryan said that these three budget reform bills "are an important step toward restoring fiscal discipline in Washington." Ryan said that he thought "by improving the budget process, we can get a better handle on our spending problem." The three budget reform bills were never approved by the House or Senate and died.

In March 2013, Ryan submitted to the House a new budget plan for Fiscal Year 2014. It claimed to balance the budget by 2023 by repealing Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the ACA and ObamaCare, and would have instituted federal vouchers into Medicare, and cut Medicare benefits and spending on education, research, food safety and other domestic programs. This budget, House Concurrent Resolution 25, was voted on by the House on March 21, 2013 and it passed 221-207.

Ryan was chairman of the House Budget committee during the 2013 budget sequestration, debt-ceiling crisis, and federal government shutdown. Ryan suggested using discussions regarding raising the federal debt ceiling as "leverage" to reduce federal spending. In January 2013, he said that sequestration would likely occur because the Democrats offered no alternative. Ryan voted against the Senate compromise continuing resolution that ended the shutdown, which included raising the debt ceiling and funding for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

On December 10, 2013, Ryan announced that he and Democratic Senator Patty Murray, Ryan's counterpart as chairperson of the Senate Budget Committee, had reached a compromise agreement on a two-year, bipartisan budget bill, called the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013. The deal would cap the federal government's spending for Fiscal Year 2014 at $1.012 trillion and for Fiscal Year 2015 at $1.014. The proposed deal would eliminate some of the spending cuts required by the sequester ($45 billion of the cuts scheduled to happen in January 2014 and $18 billion of the cuts scheduled to happen in 2015). The deal offsets the spending increases by raising airline fees and changing the pension contribution requirements of new federal workers. Overall the fee increases and spending reductions total about $85 billion over a decade. The budget became law.

Ryan said that he was "proud" of the agreement because "it reduces the deficit – without raising taxes." Some conservative Republicans objected to Ryan's budget proposal. Republican Raul Labrador criticized the "terrible plan," saying that "it makes promises to the American people that are false. Today the Democrats realized they were right all along, that we would never hold the line on the sequester." Other conservatives were more positive: "It achieves most of the things we would like to see when we have divided government," said Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.).

In 2014, Ryan released a refresh of his budget plan which would reduce spending by 5.1 trillion over a decade and claimed to balance the budget by 2024. Ryan's proposed budget for fiscal year 2015 included deep cuts to domestic spending to reduce projected federal deficits by about $5 trillion over the next decade. In releasing the budget, Ryan stated "We have to stop spending money we don't have." According to the White House, Ryan's 2014 budget proposal would increase taxes on middle-class families by an average of $2000, while cutting taxes for the richest Americans.

Federal deficit

Obama initially viewed Ryan as a Republican who could help to reduce the federal deficit. In January, 2010, at the House Republican annual retreat, Obama called Ryan's budget proposal a "serious proposal" and found both points of agreement and disagreement, saying "some ideas in there that I would agree with, but there are some ideas that we should have a healthy debate about because I don't agree with them." On April 13, 2011, speaking of Ryan's budget proposal, Obama said "There's nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires."

Spending

A number of commentators have criticized Ryan's votes for what they believe were deficit-increasing policies during the George W. Bush administration as being inconsistent with fiscal conservatism. While Ryan voted for the two Bush tax cuts (in 2001 and 2003), he also voted for the 2003 bill that created the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and the $700 billion bank bailout, and Ryan was one of 32 Republicans in the House to vote for the auto industry bailout. In 2011 President Barack Obama criticized Ryan as being "not on the level" for describing himself as a fiscal conservative while voting for these policies, as well as two "unpaid for" wars. Columnist Ezra Klein wrote in 2012 that "If you know about Paul Ryan at all, you probably know him as a deficit hawk. But Ryan has voted to increase deficits and expand government spending too many times for that to be his north star."

Regulation

In 1999, Ryan voted in favor of the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, which repealed some of the financial regulation of banking from the 1933 Glass–Steagall Act. Ryan sponsored a 2008 bill that would repeal the requirement that the Federal Reserve System work to reduce unemployment. Ryan voted against the Credit CARD Act of 2009 which expanded consumer protections regarding credit card plans. Ryan opposed the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which strengthened financial regulation, characterizing it as "class warfare".

Social, environmental, and science issues

Ryan "played a central role in nearly all" the policy debates of the period 2010-2012. Ryan's non-fiscal policy positions were subject to additional national attention with his 2012 race for Vice President.

Health care, Social Security, and unemployment insurance

Ryan was "his party’s most forceful spokesman for cutting entitlement spending," according to The New York Times in 2012.

Ryan voted to extend unemployment insurance in 2002, 2008 and 2009, but has voted against further extensions since then.

Ryan voted for the 2003 Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act that created the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit.

In 2004 and 2005, Ryan pushed the Bush administration to propose the privatization of Social Security. Ryan's proposal ultimately failed when it did not gain the support of the then-Republican presidential administration. In 2005, Ryan and Senator John Sununu of New Hampshire introduced the Social Security Personal Savings Guarantee and Prosperity Act, also known as the Ryan-Sununu plan. The plan would have allowed employees to direct a portion of their Federal Insurance Contributions Act payroll tax on their wages to a private account which invested in a stock portfolio managed by the Social Security Administration. Versions of the plan were included in Ryan's later budget proposals.

Ryan says Medicare is on an “unsustainable path.” Ryan budget plans proposed privatizing Medicare for those currently under the age of 55, and funding Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program through block grants to the states. In 2012 Ryan has proposed that Medicaid be converted into block grants but with the federal government's share of the cost cut by some $800 billion over the next decade. Currently, Medicaid is administered by the states, subject to federal rules concerning eligibility, and the amount paid by the federal government depends on the number of people who qualify. His plan would also undo a Reagan-era reform by which the federal government prohibited the states from requiring that a patient's spouse, as well as the patient, deplete all of his or her assets before Medicaid would cover long-term care. Ryan’s budget plan proposed raising the Medicare eligibility age, starting in 2023, by two months a year, until it reaches 67 in 2034. A 2011 analysis, conducted by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research group, for the Kaiser Family Foundation, estimated that Ryan's 2011 plan would have resulted in 14 million to 27 million fewer people receiving Medicaid coverage by 2021.

Ryan voted against the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the ACA or ObamaCare, and voted to repeal it in 2012. The Obama and Ryan health care reform plans capped Medicare spending at 0.5% of gross domestic product. The ACA established the Independent Payment Advisory Board to control costs, which Ryan called "15 unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats"; Ryan proposed that Congress set reimbursement levels.

In 2010 Ryan served on the joint, bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, known as the Simpson-Bowles Commission. Ryan voted, with the majority of the Commission, not to advance the Commission's final report to Congress. Ryan explained his vote citing that the Commission's recommendations did not do enough to reduce health care costs.

Education

Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute states that on "'education, training, employment, and social services,' the Ryan budget would spend 33% less" than Obama's budget plan over the next decade. In particular, the Ryan plan tightens eligibility requirements for Pell Grants and freezes the maximum Pell Grant award at the current level. According to an analysis by the Education Trust, this would result in more than 1 million students losing Pell Grants over the next 10 years. Additionally, under Ryan's plan, student loans would begin to accrue interest while students are still in school. Ryan states that his education policy is to "allocate our limited financial resources effectively and efficiently to improve education". Jordan Weissmann of The Atlantic said that Ryan's vision on education policy is to "cut and privatize".

Ryan voted for the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. Ryan is a supporter of for-profit colleges and opposed the gainful employment rule, which would have ensured that vocational schools whose students were unable to obtain employment would stop receiving federal aid. Ryan is a supporter of private school vouchers and voted to extend the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program in 2011. The National Education Association teachers' union has criticized Ryan's positions on education. In December 2015, Ryan led the bipartisan effort to pass the Every Student Succeeds Act, which, among other things, fully repealed No Child Left Behind and severely limited the federal government's ability to impose and enforce national education standards such as Common Core.

Abortion rights and pay equity for women

In 1998, Ryan said he opposes all abortions and favors overturning Roe v. Wade; he believes all abortions should be illegal, including those resulting from rape or incest, and only makes an exception for cases where the woman's life is at risk. During Ryan's 1998 campaign for Congress, he "expressed his willingness to let states criminally prosecute women who have abortions," telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel at the time that he "would let states decide what criminal penalties would be attached to abortions", and while not stating that he supports jailing women who have an abortion, stated: "if it's illegal, it's illegal." In 2009, he cosponsored the Sanctity of Life Act, which would extend personhood rights to fertilized eggs. In 2010, Ryan described himself as being "as pro-life as a person gets" and has been described as an "ardent, unwavering foe of abortion rights". As of 2012, Ryan has co-sponsored 38 measures in the U.S. Congress that restrict abortion, according to Bloomberg.

Ryan has also supported legislation that would impose criminal penalties for certain doctors who perform "partial-birth abortions". Ryan voted against federal funding for Planned Parenthood and Title X family planning programs. He also opposed giving over-the-counter status for emergency contraceptive pills. Ryan was one of 227 House co-sponsors of the 2011 No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act bill that would have limited funding for federally funded abortions to victims of "forcible rape". "Forcible rape" was not defined in the bill, which critics said would result in excluding date rape, statutory rape, or other situations where the victim had diminished mental capacity. The language was removed from the bill before the House passed the bill; the Senate did not vote on the bill.

The National Right to Life Committee has consistently given Ryan a "100 percent pro-life voting record" since he took office in 1999. NARAL Pro-Choice America has noted that Ryan has "cast 59 votes" (including procedural motions and amendments which don't have co-sponsors) "on reproductive rights while in Congress and not one has been pro-choice".

Ryan voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which bolstered women's rights to bring suit to achieve equal pay for equal work, and against the House version of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would help address the gender pay gap in the United States.

Same-sex marriage

Ryan opposes same-sex marriage, had previously supported a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, opposed the repeal of the don't ask, don't tell policy, voted against same-sex couples adopting children in Washington D.C., and voted against a bill that would expand federal hate crime laws to cover offenses based on a victim's sexual orientation. Unlike most of his fellow Republicans, Ryan voted in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in 2007, which would have prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The Human Rights Campaign, a LGBT rights organization, has frequently given Ryan a 0/100 rating on its legislative scorecard. During Paul Ryan's 2012 vice presidential bid, he was endorsed by two gay conservative organizations, GOProud and the Log Cabin Republicans. On April 30, 2013, Ryan came out in favor of same-sex couples adopting children. He also said he had always supported civil unions. He also said that if the US Supreme Court declares the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, then he believes it will become a federalist issue for states to decide same-sex marriage.

Gun control

Ryan has supported the rights of gun owners and opposed stricter gun control measures. He voted against a bill for stronger background check requirements for purchases at gun shows and supports federal concealed-carry reciprocity legislation, which would allow a person with a permit to carry a concealed firearm in one state to carry a firearm in every other state, a top National Rifle Association (NRA) priority. Ryan, who owns a rifle and a shotgun, is an NRA member, has received an "A" rating from the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action and has been endorsed by the organization every cycle he has been in Congress.

Immigration

In the past, Ryan supported legislation that would have allowed some illegal immigrants to apply for temporary guest-worker status, including one bill that would provide a pathway to permanent residence status (a Green Card) for such immigrants. However, more recently Ryan "has adopted a firm anti-amnesty, enforcement-first stance" on illegal immigration. Ryan voted against the DREAM Act, a bill that would provide conditional permanent residency to illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children if they attend college or serve in the military, and meet other criteria. He also voted in favor of the Secure Fence Act of 2006. Ryan has said "we must first secure the border and stem the flow of illegal immigration, and then work to increase legal immigration through an enforceable guest worker program" before pursuing a "piecemeal" reform such as the DREAM Act.

Environment

In 2009 Ryan wrote in an op ed that the hacked e-mails from a server at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, also known as "Climategate", made clear that climatologists "use statistical tricks to distort their findings and intentionally mislead the public on the issue of climate change." He opposes cap and trade and opposed the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. He criticized the Environmental Protection Agency's classification of carbon dioxide as a pollutant.

Ryan is skeptical of the scientific consensus on climate change. On July 30, 2014, at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor in Washington, D. C., Ryan said “Climate change occurs no matter what. The question is, can and should the federal government do something about it. And I would argue the federal government, with all its tax and regulatory schemes, can't.” On October 13, 2014, during a debate against Democratic challenger Rob Zerban in Kenosha, Wisconsin both candidates were asked if human activity was to blame for climate change, and Ryan answered "I don't know the answer to that question. I don't think science does, either."

Ryan supports a 10-year $40 billion tax break for the petroleum industry, and has proposed cutting funding for renewable energy research and subsidies. As a legislative and policy aide to Rep. Sam Brownback of Kansas, Ryan opposed subsidies for ethanol fuel production.

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the Sierra Club, and other environmentalists have criticized Ryan's record on environmental issues, with Ryan earning 3 percent on the LCV 2011 National Environmental Scorecard.

Other

Ryan opposed the Stop Online Piracy Act, stating that "it creates the precedent and possibility for undue regulation, censorship and legal abuse."

Ryan favors a constitutional amendment to ban flag-burning. He also voted to withdraw federal funding of NPR.

War on Poverty report

In February 2013, Ryan began touring low-income neighborhoods and speaking on efforts to reform federal anti-poverty programs.

On March 3, 2014, as Chairman of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, Ryan released a report titled The War on Poverty: 50 Years Later, asserting that some of 92 federal programs designed to help lower-income Americans have not provided the relief intended and that there is little evidence that these efforts have been successful. In the report, Ryan advances the argument that federal antipoverty programs suffer from defects that "penalize families for getting ahead" and that "the complex web of federal programs and sudden drop-off in benefits create extraordinarily high effective marginal tax rates," both of which "reduce the incentive to work". At the core of the report are recommendations to enact cuts to welfare, child care, college Pell grants and several other federal assistance programs. In an appendix titled "Measures of Poverty", when the poverty rate is measured by including non-cash assistance from food stamps, housing aid and other federal programs, the report states that these measurements "[have] implications for both conservatives and liberals. For conservatives, this suggests that federal programs have actually decreased poverty. For liberals, it lessens the supposed need to expand existing programs or to create new ones." According to an article in the Fiscal Times, several economists and social scientists whose work had been referenced in the report said that Ryan either misunderstood or misrepresented their research.

Ryan has spoken out against a "tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning to value the culture of work."

Foreign and military policy

Ryan was a "reliable supporter of the [George W. Bush] administration's foreign policy priorities." Ryan voted for the 2002 Iraq Resolution, authorizing President George W. Bush to use military force in Iraq. Ryan also voted for the Iraq War troop surge of 2007. In 2011, Ryan pointed to his support for over $10 billion in cuts to national security spending as part of the Budget Control Act of 2011 that included $50 billion in near-term budget cuts and a sequestration system to force further budget cuts. In May 2012, Ryan voted for H.R. 4310, which increased defense spending by $8 billion, including spending for the War in Afghanistan and for weapon systems. In 2012, Ryan explained his support for defense spending sequestration in the hope that this would open common ground with the Democrats on deficit reduction. Ryan's comments led defense industry leaders to pin their final hopes on the chance that Congress would at least allow the Pentagon to direct the coming cuts.

Ryan voted in 2001 and 2004 to end the embargo on Cuba, but later reversed his positions, and, since 2007, has voted for maintaining the embargo. In 2008, Ryan told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "If we're going to have free trade with China, why not Cuba?"

In 2009, Ryan termed the Obama administrations' "reset" of relations with Russia as "appeasement".

Daniel Larison of The American Conservative wrote that Ryan "seems to conceive of U.S. power abroad mostly in terms of military strength" and "truly is a product of the era of George W. Bush". Ryan has been described by Larry Sabato as "just a generic Republican on foreign policy".

Ryan supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and supported granting fast track authority to President Obama to negotiate the TPP.