--- description: "People don't just want a life of comfort; they want a life of dignity." title: Paul Ryan Criticizes Liberal Government Programs at CPAC image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40eeadd5ae71e12c/69868460e8524b498d601b05/paul-ryan-cpac-2016.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Congress](/tag/congress/) ## Congress Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Paul Ryan Criticizes Liberal Government Programs at CPAC  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Updated: Jan 24, 2024 4:17 PM CUTPublished: Mar 6, 2014 11:06 PM CUT  Congressman Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin, waves to the crowd after speaking during the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., March 6, 2014. Congressman Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin, waves to the crowd after speaking during the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., March 6, 2014.Lexey Swall—GRAIN for TIME  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Updated: Jan 24, 2024 4:17 PM CUTPublished: Mar 6, 2014 11:06 PM CUT Paul Ryan argued that liberal government programs give people comfort but not dignity. In a [speech](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiwnUaGZOdk "undefined") he made at Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the country’s largest gathering of conservative leaders and activists, Thursday, he shared a story he heard from Eloise Anderson, who serves in the Cabinet for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, as a way of criticizing the Affordable Care Act. --- > “” --- **Update:** The story has been updated to add a fuller quote and context to Ryan’s remarks at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference. A spokeswoman for Anderson [later told the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2014/03/06/a-story-too-good-to-check-paul-ryan-and-the-story-of-the-brown-paper-bag/?utm%5Fterm=.322c454463e6 "undefined") that she had misspoken while testifying before Congress, and that the quote about a brown-paper bag came from a TV interview she saw. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/14887/paul-ryan-cpac-2014/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/14887/paul-ryan-cpac-2014/"},"headline":"Paul Ryan Criticizes Liberal Government Programs at CPAC","datePublished":"2014-03-06T23:06:37.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-24T16:17:44.000Z","description":"'People don't just want a life of comfort; they want a life of dignity'","url":"https://time.com/14887/paul-ryan-cpac-2014/","keywords":["Congress","People Premium","Children","Hunger","Paul Ryan"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40eeadd5ae71e12c/69868460e8524b498d601b05/paul-ryan-cpac-2016.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40eeadd5ae71e12c/69868460e8524b498d601b05/paul-ryan-cpac-2016.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Congressman Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin, waves to the crowd after speaking during the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., March 6, 2014.","caption":"Congressman Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin, waves to the crowd after speaking during the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., March 6, 2014.","creditText":"Lexey Swall—GRAIN for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/14887/paul-ryan-cpac-2014/","name":"Paul Ryan Criticizes Liberal Government Programs at CPAC"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"House Speaker Paul Ryan: 'Welcome to the Dawn of a New Unified Republican Government’","description":"\"Better days lie ahead for our country\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jeDIDaNO/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-11-15T17:28:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jeDIDaNO.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/14887/paul-ryan-cpac-2014/","duration":"PT48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/14887/paul-ryan-cpac-2014/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```