Business

Biden calls Ryan ‘a good guy’

by Jordan Fabian - 10/26/15 9:13 AM ET

Vice President Biden called Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) a “good guy” who could work with the White House on reaching a budget deal to avoid a government shutdown if he is elected Speaker.

“I think we can make some real progress, particularly with Paul Ryan, who is a good guy, on working toward an accommodation on the budget and on keeping the government open,” Biden said in an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday.

{mosads}Biden expressed confidence that Ryan could help improve the relationship between the Republican-led Congress and President Obama, which has been toxic for years.

“Yes,” Biden responded. “This is a decent guy. And he knows you cannot function — this government can’t function without reaching some consensus, and he wants to do that.”

Biden is the highest-ranking White House official to publicly praise Ryan since he announced he would run for Speaker last week, after the divided House Republican conference accepted his demands to unify behind him.

Republicans are scheduled to vote behind closed doors Wednesday to nominate a candidate for Speaker and the full House will formally elect a new Speaker Thursday.

Ryan will face immediate challenges if and when he is elected to replace outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). Congress faces a looming Nov. 3 deadline to raise the debt limit, and lawmakers have just over six weeks to hammer out a budget agreement before government funding runs out on Dec. 11.

Biden’s comments are meant to signal hope for a new chapter for Obama and the GOP, who are at loggerheads over how to fund the government. But they could inflame a small, but vocal, group of conservative Republicans who believe Ryan is too willing to work with the Obama administration.

It’s also a new tone from Biden, who debated Ryan when he was the Republicans’ vice presidential nominee during the 2012 election.

Biden, who announced last week he would not run for president, said he does not plan to seek political office again. But he said he hopes to “influence” the Democratic Party as it selects a successor to Obama.

The vice president said he wants to “bring people together” and heal partisan wounds that have caused gridlock in Washington. He repeated his criticism of claims made by Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton and others that Republicans are the “enemy.”

Biden denied his recent comments were directed at Clinton, but he said that mindset needs to end in order for the government to function.

“They’re not my enemy,” he said of the GOP. “How in God’s name can we govern this country if we view the opposition as an enemy?”

Tags debt ceiling Joe Biden Paul Ryan