Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) was elected Thursday as the new speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, calling in his first speech for changes in how business is conducted in that legislative body.
Advertisement
His appointment makes him the sixth Catholic House Speaker out of the last eight – or seventh taking into account Newt Gingrich, who converted to Catholicism in 2009 after his time as speaker. He has served as chairman of two of the most powerful committees – Budget and Ways and Means – during his almost 17 years in Congress.
Ryan’s main Republican challenger, Representative Daniel Webster of Florida, received nine votes from members of the right-wing Freedom Caucus and other conservatives who frequently battled with Boehner by pressing for quicker progress in shrinking government.
“We’re wasting a lot of money and money we don’t have and we’re not far in the country from a failure, a bankruptcy”, Paul Robbins said.
“I believe, with every fiber of my being, we can renew the American Idea”, Ryan said in his remarks to the House. “Our party has lost its vision, and we are going to replace it with a vision”, Ryan told reporters. “I don’t agree with him on much”, said Brown. “The committees should retake the lead in drafting legislation”.
Ryan, 45, who was nominated by Republicans a day earlier, received 236 votes on the floor.
Also among those watching today from the visitors’ gallery was Mitt Romney, whose decision in 2012 to make Ryan his running mate vaulted the Wisconsin congressman to national prominence.
“Let’s be frank, the House is broken”, he said. “Now Paul Ryan has 14 months to prove he can be a speaker for the future, not of the past”. After U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., introduced him, Ryan thanked family, friends and outgoing Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
I do not expect that it will be easy or ideal; the House, and the Republican Party itself, have too many months and years of division, anger and hyper-partisanship. The House passed a similar deal on Wednesday that lifts spending ceilings and raises the debt ceiling through mid-March 2017.
Ryan said that, as speaker, he’s hoping to bring the Republican Party together after years of disagreements over whether compromise is a valid tactic that have split the party.
Advertisement
“There’s a difference between being asked to do something and being called to do something”, he said.
