Rep. Paul Ryan formally declared his candidacy for speaker of the U.S. House Thursday evening, pledging in a letter to GOP colleagues, “We have an opportunity to turn the page”.
Advertisement
“I never thought I’d be speaker”, Ryan told Republicans in the letter, but “after talking with so many of you, and hearing your words of encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as a one, united team”.
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., informed his Republican colleagues late Thursday that he would run for House speaker, avoiding what could have been an ugly and divisive battle to become the top Republican in the lower chamber.
Ryan had sought the speakership only when a risky leadership void emerged in the House after Boehner announced plans to resign under conservative pressure, and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy abruptly withdrew from the race to replace him.
Most of the Republican House “Freedom Caucus” has finally – and wisely – chose to support Paul Ryan for speaker.
Caucus members, including Rep. Matt Salmon of Arizona, said Ryan now appears to have more than enough support to prevail in a secret-ballot House GOP election set for October. 28, and in a vote of the full House the next day.
And even if a Republican wins the White House next year while the GOP retains congressional majorities, it’s unlikely that the party would have the 60 Senate votes needed to overcome a filibuster threat against a long-term budget proposal.
The G-O-P caucus will vote next Wednesday on a new speaker, and Ryan is assured of winning. According to the Hill two-thirds of the caucus chose to change their minds from their original pledge of support to Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.), Webster still has not withdrawn from the race. Ryan’s leadership will “support really what will be an agenda going into the 2016 campaign season”.
Loudermilk: “If you look at what the Freedom Caucus has done so far this year – if people had said we were going to be where we are today looking for a new speaker, at the beginning of the year, people would have said: ‘No way'”. With a potentially devastating default looming, the Freedom Caucus may well end up agitating for another showdown.
Ryan listed several conditions that had to be met before he would consider running for speaker.
“So I wasn’t in the meeting, so what I’m looking for, Barry, from you is what happened in the meeting that made you say: ‘You know what, he’s not the big GOP Mitt Romney guy that we all know”. “Paul is a policy entrepreneur who has developed conservative reforms dealing with a wide variety of subjects, and he has promised to be an ideas-focused speaker who will advance limited government principles and devolve power to the membership”.
“He said “This is a gun and no one should have to work with that gun to their head”, Massie told The Enquirer, recounting Ryan’s remarks to House Republicans in a closed-door meeting Tuesday night.
Ryan’s comments made him the rare Republican, and man, to spotlight the difficulties of balancing the demands of work life and family in an increasingly fast-paced world.
“I’m a little surprised that somebody more conservative and tough, because they need a few toughness, and smartness, and I’m a little surprised that somebody more conservative and tougher on the issues has not been chosen”, he said.
Advertisement
The Republican Study Committee, which was the conservative caucus before the more conservative Freedom Caucus splintered off, endorsed Ryan as well. “I put my credibility on the line for you because you asked me to”. The caucus said it had a “supermajority” of about 70 percent of its members who supported Mr. Ryan despite falling short of their established threshold for an endorsement.
