“I believe we are ready to move forward as a one, united team”.
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Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, sent a letter to members of the House Republican Conference on Thursday evening declaring he is ready and willing to serve as Speaker of the House.
Ryan, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee, announced Tuesday he would run for the top leadership job if he got support from all GOP factions.
Ryan would replace current speaker John Boehner, who announced he would retire in the midst of sharp divisions within the GOP caucus over how to advance its agenda during a time of divided government. “Then you just pull out and go for the ROMNEY PICK?” commentator Glenn Beck wrote in a Facebook post, referring to Ryan’s role as Mitt Romney’s running mate in 2012.
Only 70 percent of the caucus voted for Ryan, still Ryan decided it was enough to move forward with quest for the speakership. “And we can show the country what a commonsense conservative agenda looks like”, Ryan said in the letter.
At that point, Beck bluntly told Loudermilk, “I don’t believe any of you guys in Washington!”.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, who dropped out of the speaker’s race on October 8, said he thought Ryan was in “very strong shape” to secure the job.
The decision by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., to run for speaker of the House of Representatives this week has investment advisers hoping that he will help ease partisan tensions in Washington and bring an emphasis on deficit cutting to the powerful position. A small core of conservative hard-liners, organized as the 40-member House Freedom Caucus, became impossible for Boehner to govern.
With Republicans in the midst of a bitter civil war that has all but paralyzed congressional action, the much-admired lawmaker has emerged as the only leader who can end the GOP’s political turmoil.
“No other speaker candidate came in and said here’s the list of my demands, either meet those or I’m not going to do this”, said Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas.
Ryan had said he would enter the speaker’s race only if he could lock up support from three wings of the factious party, and in the stretch of 72 hours this week, he did.
Mr. Ryan’s determination to make the House productive is a positive change of pace, according to Geoffrey Brown, NAPFA chief executive.
“Paul Ryan has demonstrated an ability to lead and work with Texans”, Barton said in a written statement.
That’s because, whatever our differences, we’re all conservatives.
Ryan received supermajority support from the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which has about 40 members, after a Wednesday night meeting with the skeptical group.
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Another far smaller faction, the Tuesday Group, which is made up of a few dozen moderate members, also said that Ryan was the man for the job. “The coalition of women, African-Americans, Asians, gays and lesbians, environmentalists, young people and Latinos that the Republican Party rejects has formed an ironclad majority that will keep them out of the presidency”.
