Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) addressed the increasing federal deficit today at an American Enterprise Institute–sponsored panel. In his speech, Ryan expressed serious concern about the growing federal deficit. Holding up a copy of the Congressional Budget Office’s “Long-Term Outlook,” Ryan said that “the economy is going off a fiscal cliff.”

He was optimistic that Democrats and Republicans could work together on deficit reduction. He even praised Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.), who was one of 18 House members to oppose a bill preventing Medicare-premium increases for high-income seniors.

Ryan stressed that the United States has two economic paths it can follow: austerity or prosperity. He warned that an austere path of cutting benefits and raising taxes will leave us like Europe is now. He prefers a path to encourage prosperity, implementing government policies to encourage entrepreneurship and growth. He said that these diverging paths not only represent a fiscal division in our society, but also a cultural one.