While cheering the Tea Party Republicans’ demand of $60 billion in cuts, Stockman lamented their insistence on attaching polarizing policy riders forbidding funding for Planned Parenthood and other right-wing pariahs. “I don’t agree with that. It’s unfortunate that these social issues get caught up in what essentially is the core fiscal question.”

Stockman took special aim at Chairman Ryan, who this week proposed a politically risky budget that Thursday garnered laurels from The Wall Street Journal for attacking the festering growth of entitlement costs, particularly through Medicare reform.

“I think he has a nice philosophical plan for the fiscal hereafter, two or three decades down the road,” Stockman sniffed. “But it is neither courageous nor relevant when it comes to the fiscal here and now… It’s a fine plan that starts in 2021. We need to deal with revenue, entitlements, defense and discretionaries, and the problem with his plan is it doesn’t address more than one of those appropriately. Discretionaries, yes, but it totally whiffs on the other three—which are much more important.”