On Sunday’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” host Chris Wallace asked Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan whether he would be open to the prospect of accepting the Republican vice-presidential nomination.

Ryan replied with the standard line that he gave when asked about his prospects to be the GOP presidential nominee last year: He said he wanted to remain active in his role in the House of Representatives.

“Well, I’m already the point guy … in the House,” Ryan said. “I just don’t know the answer to your question, Chris. It is not a bridge I have even come close to crossing. It is a decision that somebody else makes a long time from now. And, quite honestly, I am focused on doing my job in Congress, which I think is important, which is to give the country and alternative choice of two futures on how we save and strengthen America, how we save the American dream from what I think is this path the president has put us on to debt and decline.”

“So, I can’t answer that question. I haven’t given enough thought to that.”

But Ryan didn’t close the door completely to the possibility, saying he would “consider” it.

“I would have to consider it, but it’s not something I am even thinking about right now because I think our job in Congress is pretty important,” Ryan said. “And what we believe we owe the country is if we don’t like the direction the president is taking us, which we don’t — we owe them a specific sharp contrast and a different path they can select in November, and doing this in Congress is really important. That’s why I think I have a real good job right now.”

That contrast, according to the House Budget Committee chairman, boiled down to steering the country away from “government dependency.”

“We’re going to give the country a choice, and we’re going to show the country this is how you balance the budget, pay off the debt and grow the economy and stop all the cronyism in Washington — picking winners and losers. Here’s how you get an upward and mobile society. Here’s how you get people back to work instead of being on government dependency. These are the decisions we’re going to have to make this fall, and that’s why I think this job in Congress that I have right now is pretty important in doing that.”

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