Ryan's views

A look at where Rep. Paul Ryan stands on some issues:

Budget: Ryan is the primary author of tax and spending blueprints that Republicans in the House approved over Democratic opposition in 2011 and 2012. His plan would transform Medicare into a program in which future seniors would have the choice to opt out of the government-run program and instead receive government checks to buy health insurance. The budget plan would cut projected spending for Medicaid, food stamps, student loans and other social programs. In all, it projects spending cuts of $5.3 trillion over a decade, and would cut future projected deficits substantially. It also envisions an overhaul of the tax code of the sort Mitt Romney has promised.

Medicare: Ryan wants a plan more like a 401(K) that steers those future retirees who choose it into private insurance plans with fixed payments from government that may not cover as much of their costs as the current program. He would also raise the eligibility age from 65 to 67. Ryan would turn Medicaid over to the states.

Guns: Ryan has a top rating from gun-rights groups. He voted to protect gun manufacturers and sellers from lawsuits stemming from misuse of guns. He voted to shorten the gun-purchase waiting period from three days to one.

Abortion: The congressman co-sponsored the Sanctity of Human Life Act and the Right to Life Act, which both say life begins at fertilization. He also co-sponsored a law that prohibits federal financing from being used for any health coverage that includes an abortion.

Social Security: Ryan has said poorer seniors should receive "more targeted assistance than those who have had ample opportunity to save for retirement" as part of the solution to the program's long-term insolvency. He's spoken favorably of proposals to grow benefits for wealthier retirees more slowly than for others. Ryan has also backed the idea to let future retirees invest a portion of their contributions privately.

Gay rights: Ryan has voted against allowing same-sex couples to adopt and opposed repealing the ban on gays serving openly in the military. He has voted twice against hate crime protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. And he's voted for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

- The Associated Press

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