Ryan: "We don’t want a safety net that encourages more dependency"

DOVER, N.H. -- Campaigning in New Hampshire Tuesday, GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan echoed his running mate Mitt Romney's claim that too many people are relying on government support under the Obama Administration.

"We believe in a safety net that is there for people who truly cannot help themselves so they can live a life of dignity but we also believe in a safety net that is there for people who are down on their luck so that they can get back on their feet," Ryan said during a town hall meeting here.

"We don't want a safety net that encourages more dependency because there is no economic growth behind it because what that ends up doing is it drains people of their will and their incentive to make the most of their lives, to tap their potential, to get on their path to prosperity. That is what unfortunately is what we are seeing in the Obama economy."

Ryan's comments come a day after a hidden camera video surfaced showing Mitt Romney saying 47 percent of Americans who support President Obama are "dependent upon government" adding they "believe that they are victims" and "believe the government has a responsibility to care for them."

Romney has since said those comments, and others, at a Boca Raton fundraiser were off the cuff and not elegantly stated.

Ryan never directly addressed the video Tuesday but he did say the Republican ticket is focused on putting Americans back to work and making less people dependent on public support.

"By not having jobs and economic growth, people miss their potential. We should not be measuring the progress of our social programs - programs like food stamps - based upon how many people receive them. We should be measuring the progress of our social programs by how many people we transition off of them into lives of self-sufficiency and jobs and upward mobility. That's not what we are getting in this economy," Ryan claimed.

"Our goal, our mission is to address the root causes of poverty instead of simply treating the symptoms of poverty," he added.