An unusual thing happened as President Obama’s budget director, Peter Orszag, spoke Sunday evening about the White House budget proposal being unveiled on Monday.

Orszag, touching on the country’s long-term fiscal instability and its connection to health-care costs, raised a Republican lawmaker’s idea on how to fix the problem. The mention of Rep. Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, was completely unilateral by Orszag, without any prompting.

“I would note on this point that there have been alternative proposals put forward. For example, Representative Ryan has come forward with a proposal that does restore long term balance to the federal budget,” Orszag said.

He did it again, again of his own accord, during an interview with Bloomberg TV Monday morning at the White House.

“Republicans have put forward ideas. Rep. Ryan … has a plan for the future of the budget. That’s great,” Orszag said.

On the conference call Sunday, Orszag said that under Ryan’s plan, which moves Medicare recipients 55 and younger into a system where they get direct payment vouchers instead of government payment for each medical visit or procedure, the “voucher would not keep pace with ongoing health-care costs.”

Orszag called the plan “one approach” but said it “may not be the one that the American public favors.”

When Ryan’s name came up yet again at a Monday press conference, Orszag said his plan, while “impressive,” is “a dramatically different approach in which much more risk is loaded onto individuals.”

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“I obviously didn’t expect to get this kind of attention,” Ryan said in a phone interview Monday. “But I’m very happy about it because … they can no longer say the Republican party has no ideas.”

The dynamic was on display Friday in Baltimore, when Obama told the House Republican caucus that he had read Ryan’s 93-page plan for American’s fiscal future and was familiar with it. The president, who was at times combative during a question-and-answer session and dismissed some questions by other Republican lawmakers, showed respect for Ryan’s ideas, even though he expressed disagreement.

“Paul … has looked at the budget and has made a serious proposal,” Obama said. “I’ve read it. I can tell you what’s in it. There are some ideas in there that I would agree with, but there are some ideas in there that we should have a healthy debate about because I don’t agree with them.”

Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who attended the session, said the nationally televised session will be a significant boost for Ryan’s political profile.

“When the president shows you that much respect the media is sure to follow, and the president acknowledging and emphasizing that he had read Paul’s materials shows you they are serious and significant,” Luntz said in an interview.