Incoming House Budget Committee Chairmen Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) released the following statement in reaction to President Obama’s call for a two-year pay freeze for non-military federal employees. Like many of his colleagues, Ryan welcomes the president’s embrace of a House Republican proposal, but argues that much more needs to be done:

“The President has done the right thing today by taking steps to check the explosive growth of government. This is the kind of cooperation we were hoping for when we advanced this proposal last May, and we’re glad to see the President embrace this spending cut proposed by House Republicans.
“While we welcome the President’s announcement to freeze Federal pay, we hope it is matched with both a hiring freeze for the Federal bureaucracy and a reduction in agency budgets so the savings aren’t recycled on new spending. House Budget Committee Republicans included these proposals as part of over $1 trillion in specific spending cuts. Unfortunately, House Democrats rejected the proposal when House Republicans brought the Federal pay freeze measure to the House floor.
“I remain hopeful the President will work with House Republicans on additional efforts to cut and cap government spending, taking the much needed first steps toward getting our unsustainable structural deficits under control.”