Allen West says those questioning his support for Ryan budget on a 'suicide mission'

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), a Tea Party favorite, said those who would challenge his support for House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) proposed budget were on a "suicide mission" in a Facebook post Thursday.

"I will be supporting the House GOP Budget Plan as authored by my colleague Budget Chairman Paul Ryan. And anyone challenging me on my support to this visionary plan to restore our economic security will be signing up for a suicide mission," West said.

The congressman — who frequently makes headlines with controversial comments — is an Army veteran who served in the Middle East.

West went on to reference the Bible in warning off potential detractors questioning his support for Ryan's ambitious plan, which proposes a dramatic overhaul to the tax code and deep cuts to the federal budget.

"My recommendation to any detractors, read Proverbs 17:28 and heed its advice. It is time for those who understand how to govern, not demagogue," West said.

Proverbs 17:28 says "even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue."

West's post then copies a Wall Street Journal editorial praising the GOP for realizing "it has an obligation to reform the listing, unaffordable entitlement state."

In a Wednesday night vote, the House Budget Committee approved Ryan's 2013 budget resolution in a close 19-18 vote.

On Tuesday, after the proposal was unveiled, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) predicted "a strong vote of support" from the GOP caucus.

Democrats, however, have blasted the budget proposal, with White House spokesman Jay Carney telling reporters Wednesday that the plan has "many serious problems," and that those who supported cuts to education and clean energy were "aggressively and deliberately ignorant."

"You have to be aggressively and deliberately ignorant of the world economy not to know and understand that clean-energy technologies are going to play a huge role in the 21st century," Carney said. "You have to have severely diminished capacity to understand what drives economic growth in industrialized countries in this century if you do not understand that education is the key that unlocks the door to prosperity."

"The budget proposed by Chairman Ryan and supported overwhelmingly already by Republicans suggests that those problems exist in the minds of the supporters of that plan," the press secretary continued.

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