Paul Ryan's Express

$4 trillion in spending cuts. That's what Paul Ryan is proposing:

During Ryan's appearance, he confirmed the broad strokes of the GOP's 2012 budget resolution, which is scheduled to be unveiled on Tuesday.

He said his budget will trim more than the $4 trillion in spending cuts outlined as a goal by the president's fiscal commission.

The GOP plan will call for statutory caps on discretionary spending and a cap on spending as percentage of GDP, but Ryan would not specify [a] number.

What Ryan did specify is what he expects as a response from his portside colleagues:

"We are giving them a political weapon to go out against us, but they will have to lie and demagogue to make that a political weapon," he said. "They are going to demagogue us, and it's that demagoguery that has always prevented political leaders in the past from actually trying to fix the problem. We can't keep kicking this can down the road."

He added, "Shame on them if they do that."

You can't use shaming as a technique on people who have no shame, of course. But Ryan is correct -- we really can't keep kicking the can down the road. The larger concern I have is that Ryan's fellow Republicans will go weak-kneed in the face of the demagoguery that is inevitable on this issue. I don't know if John Boehner has the courage to face it. We need to find out, though, and I'm glad that Ryan is taking the lead on this issue.