Elected with 236 votes on Thursday, Ryan is the 54th Speaker of the House of Representatives. Ryan needed 218 votes to take the gavel.
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Ryan has also said he will meet conservatives’ demands to change the way the House is run – work is already underway to revisit House rules – and give them a seat at the Republican leadership table. All six House Democrats from the state voted for their leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, who received 184 votes.
Ryan, 45, is the youngest person to the hold office of speaker since James Blaine was elected in 1869 at the age of 39, according to the House historian. “We are wiping the slates clean”.
“We will not duck the tough issues”. Romney’s selection of Ryan as his vice president in the 2012 presidential race launched the youngster onto the national stage.
The Democrat added that while he doesn’t expect to agree with the new speaker on most things, he’s hopeful the House can work together to find and achieve bipartisan solutions.
Ryan himself has developed a reputation during his time in Washington as a policy wonk.
He became chairman of the House Budget Committee in 2011 where he developed multiple conservative budget blueprints. The budget deal raises the debt ceiling, trims a few entitlement programs and increases spending through 2017, likely averting fiscal drama during Ryan’s honeymoon and the 2016 presidential campaign.
Today John Boehner retired from Congress and vacated his post as Speaker of the House as noted fitness model Paul Ryan took over the role. “I leave with no regrets, no burdens”, he said. “I’m the same regular guy that came here, trying to do a good job for my district and my country”.
Boehner has refused to bring antidiscrimination legislation to the House floor, despite the passage of such bills in the Senate.
Ryan easily bested other would-be challengers for the speakership during Thursday’s vote.
“Paul is being called”, Boehner said. I am proud to congratulate him and wish him all the best as he assumes his new position.
He visited India in 2006 as part of a Congressional delegation led by the then Speaker of House of Representative.
What remains unclear is if Ryan will face the same united opposition Boehner has faced from conservatives in the Freedom Caucus.
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“The people’s House is, in my view, the great embodiment of the American Dream”, said Boehner, telling his colleagues that for him, “it wasn’t so much a calling as it was a mission: a mission to strive for a smaller, less costly and more accountable government here in Washington”.
