Ryan leaves long voting trail to review

MADISON, Wis. -- Rep. Paul Ryan's record runs deeper than his signature budget and Medicare ideas.

Mitt Romney's running mate is against abortion rights, has a top rating from gun-rights groups and backed sending troops to the wars. But in conflict with fellow Republicans, he's defended wage laws favored by unions. And he supported the auto industry bailout opposed by Romney and the bank bailout that the party's right flank now opposes.

Ryan's 14 years in Congress leave a long trail of votes for Democrats to pick apart, a process that began with gusto as Romney announced his choice Saturday.

Ryan's intense interest in fiscal issues -- he holds a degree in economics and chairs the House Budget Committee -- helps explain why those matters define him in Washington. But Ryan has always been a reliable vote on proposals dear to social conservatives, enough to earn him a perfect score from a key anti-abortion group back home.

This year, Republicans rallied behind his debt and deficit prescription to curtail federal spending on food stamps, Pell Grants for education and other programs. His debt-reduction proposal calls for cuts in personal and corporate tax rates, but also would pare deductions and preferences that litter the tax code. So far, it has been little more than a GOP wish list that passed the Republican-led House but hasn't passed the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Ryan wants to fashion Medicare into a plan more like a 401(k), steering future retirees into private insurance plans, with a fixed payment from the government. It departs from the current "fee for service" framework in which the government pays doctor and hospital bills.