Speaking to reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast, the future chairman of the House Budget Committee said the bipartisan panel failed to tackle the health-care challenge. “It not only didn’t address the elephant in the room–health care–it expanded it.”

But Mr. Ryan did heap praise on the overall package, saying it has advanced discussions and highlighted changes on the taxes and budget front that Republicans hope to promote when they take over the House.

“Plans are advancing, adult conversations are occurring,” he said, calling those movements alone as proof of the panel’s “success.”