While both men agreed that Ryan is a friendly and likeable guy, they also both stand against some of his more controversial proposals to radically change the Medicare system. Watch video
U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, left, and U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., may not agree on many issues, but they both said they are opposed to the Medicare cuts included in the budget proposed by Mitt Romney's running mate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin. (Republican file photos)More politics news
Ryan adds substantive — but controversial — budget policies to Romney's ticket
On Sunday, a day after Romney chose Ryan, the Wisconsin representative and chairman of the House Budget Committee, as his running mate, the Ryan budget plan already took on a central role in the debate.SPRINGFIELD - Ahead of a charity basketball game Monday where Republican Sen. Scott Brown's team lost to one led by the Rev. Talbert Swan II, both Brown and U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, offered their opinions on Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan to be his running mate against President Barack Obama in the upcoming presidential election.
While both men agreed that Ryan is a friendly and likeable guy, they also both stand against some of his more controversial proposals to radically change the Medicare system.
Neal, on the one hand, said that he has debated Ryan a number of times in the powerful Ways and Means Committee and he doesn't think the young congressman's ideas for reducing the federal deficit by slashing Medicare are right for the country.
"I've debated Paul Ryan many times in the Ways and Means Committee and challenged the assumptions that he will offer to the American people. To me, what's surprising, is how long it took for people to come to terms with the Ryan budget," Neal told reporters. "Paul Ryan and I are of similar ethnicity and... we've both received survivor benefits under Social Security because of the early death of a parent. The difference is that I want to maintain that benefit, and I don't think Paul does."
Brown cited past votes against the Ryan budget, as well as a guest editorial he penned for Politico in May 2011 in explaining his stance on the congressman's more controversial ideas in relation to the public insurance program.
Brown said that one of the main reasons for voting against the Ryan budget was the approach to medicare. "We can reform Medicare I think, within the system, and I look forward to doing just that," Brown said.
The senator also took aim at his Democratic rival in the U.S. Senate race, Elizabeth Warren, saying that she supports drastic cuts to Medicare benefits for current seniors to pay for the president's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Warren has rejected such claims in the past, saying that the health care law will help stabilize Medicare by slowing future spending on the program that provides health insurance for citizens age 65 or older and those receiving disability payments under Social Security.
Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts said that although there are some parts of the Ryan budget he likes, he voted against it primarily because of the way it cuts the Medicare program. (Staff photo by Mandy Hofmockel)Brown said that there were parts of the Ryan budget proposal he liked, such as reducing the tax rate for corporations.
"I think the corporate tax rate needs to be cut but I don't know if 25 percent is the number" Brown said, referring to the rate Ryan suggested corporate taxes be set at. "I think any time we can put more money into people's pockets, especially when we have the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world... is a good thing. When we're battling and trying to be competitive on a global basis, to have the highest corporate tax rate... we can't compete."
While Neal said he has served with Ryan since the Wisconsin congressman won his seat in the House of Representatives, Brown noted that he had only met Ryan at the president's state of the union speeches.
Still, both politicians called Ryan a "bold" choice on Romney's part.
"While we don't agree on everything I certainly appreciate his efforts to bring budgetary issues to the forefront," Brown said.
Neal said that Romney's choice of Ryan puts the former Massachusetts governor on the spot about cutting Medicare, Social Security and other suggestions the Wisconsin congressman has suggested.
"And I don't think in this instance that Gov. Romney, ought to be able to lightly say that they will now form their own budget," Neal said. "He chose Paul Ryan to shore up the conservative base because of the Ryan budget."
Neal is in a three-way primary election against former state Sen. Andrea Nuciforo Jr. and Bill Shein to represent the new 1st Congressional District while Brown and Warren are neck-and-neck in a battle to represent the Bay State in the U.S. Senate.