Ryan And Obama Spar Over Budget

They went head-to-head over a budget freeze and line-by-line veto. "You've said that you want to take a scalpel to the budget and go through it line-by-line," Ryan says of Obama. "We want to give you that scalpel."

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Their debate at the House Issues Forum in January 2010 started out chummy, with the President asking about Ryan's family and winning a few laughs. However, it soon got heated, with Ryan noting that "Domestic discretionary spending has increased by 84%" during Obama's time in office.

"The increase in the budget for this past year was actually predicted before I was even sworn into office," Obama responded.

He then explained his aversion to the discretionary budget freeze Ryan proposed. "I am just listening to the consensus among people who know the economy best," Obama said.

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