The Hill News

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Wednesday said Republicans successfully called President Obama’s bluff in debt-ceiling negotiations.

“President Obama reportedly warned Republican leaders not to call his bluff by sending him a bill without tax increases,” Ryan wrote in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. “Yesterday, Mr. Obama signed this bill into law. He was, as he said, bluffing.”

The debt-limit deal cuts federal deficits by nearly $1 trillion over 10 years while raising the debt ceiling at least $2.1 trillion through 2012.

Neither side loved the final deal. Republicans wanted deeper cuts and a stronger guarantee of adding a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Democrats wanted increased revenues. However, most observers of the heated negotiations said Republicans came out the “winners” in the negotiations.

“Republicans won the policy debate by securing the first of many spending restraints we need ! to avoid a debt-driven economic calamity,” Ryan wrote.

The debt-limit deal also establishes a bipartisan, bicameral committee of 12 legislators charged with putting together an additional $1.5 trillion deficit-reduction package. The committee will likely consider a package that includes both revenue increases and entitlement reforms.

Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, also signaled that Republicans would seek to refocus future debate on healthcare and Medicare reforms.