The Hill News

Newt Gingrich quickly pledged his support for House Republican's 2012 budget plan that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) unveiled on Tuesday.

"I think what Ryan is doing is courageous. He’s essentially right and the gap between him and Barack Obama is all that you need to know about why you want to beat Obama," Gingrich said in a statement later on Tuesday. "I mean Paul Ryan represents a serious adult effort to get back to a balanced budget and save our children and grandchildren from drowning in debt."

Ryan's plan shrinks the number of brackets in the tax code from six different ones to a bracket with a 25 percent top rate and a lower, 10 percent rate. The plan also reduces the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. ! Additionally, Ryan's plan changes Medicare into a voucher system providing insurance subsidies for seniors currently under 55.

Gingrich's response is in strong contrast to one he made last year on Ryan's 2011 budget. Responding to Ryan's 2011 plan, which also made the voucher system change to Medicare, Gingrich said that he didn't think "right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering."

"I don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate," Gingrich said in May of 2011.

The response sparked strong criticism from conservatives and Gingrich eventually walked back his comments.

Besides Gingrich, Ron Paul also weighed in on the budget plan. Paul criticized the plan as failing to "go far enough to address the extreme fiscal problems we face as a nation." He said the plan balanced the budget too far into the future and doesn't adequately cut spending.