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Rep. Paul Ryan (R) of Wisconsin, the top House Republican on budget matters, peeled the curtain back a little on GOP relations with the Obama White House Thursday.

Congressman Ryan, a member of the president鈥檚 bipartisan debt commission and soon to be House Budget Committee chairman, was asked if President Obama and his administration share the view of some on the left that the talk about a federal debt crisis is overblown.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know, they don鈥檛 talk to us,鈥� said Ryan, speaking to reporters at a Monitor-sponsored breakfast for reporters Thursday. 鈥淪o I don鈥檛 know what they think. I鈥檝e talked to the president and [Treasury Secretary] Tim Geithner since November and that鈥檚 the only person I鈥檝e talked to.鈥�

Still, there has been at least some communication between the White House and Capitol Hill Republicans since Mr. Obama took office early last year. Ryan described regular contact with various figures who have all now left the White House or will leave soon, including former budget director Peter Orszag, former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, and top economic adviser Larry Summers, who leaves at the end of the year.

Some of those relationships were formed during their days together on the Hill.

鈥淲e knew Orszag pretty well,鈥� because he had previously been head of the Congressional Budget Office, Ryan said. 鈥淎nd we knew Rahm because he served with us. And I was on [the House] Ways and Means [Committee] with Rahm. And we talked to Larry [Summers] every now and then.... But those guys are gone.鈥�

Ryan said he鈥檚 trying to set up a dinner with the new budget director, Jack Lew.

鈥淲e called over there last week to see if we can get dinner and get to know him a little bit,鈥� Ryan said. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to get to know him like I knew Orszag. I think it鈥檚 helpful to know each other. But I don鈥檛 know what they鈥檙e thinking, I really don鈥檛.鈥�

Ryan said the low level of communication in the current, soon-to-be departing Congress wasn鈥檛 a 鈥渕ean thing.鈥� It was that 鈥渢hey didn鈥檛 need us,鈥� Ryan added, referring to the Democrats鈥� large majorities in both houses. 鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 want us in the last session. So they didn鈥檛 talk to us.鈥�