Tag Archives: Paul Ryan

House Speaker Paul Ryan won’t seek re-election

Apr 11, 2018 | kimberlykaczmarek

House Speaker Paul Ryan has told confidantes he is not seeking re-election and will soon announce his decision, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told CNN Wednesday.

He is expected to address his decision in a closed-door GOP conference meeting Wednesday morning, the sources said.
Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, has been in Congress since 1999 and became House speaker in 2015.
Some of Ryan’s close friends previously told CNN that he might leave office after the 2018 midterms. Ryan said in a January interview with CBS News that re-election was a decision he and his wife were planning to make together in late spring, and in March he denied a rumor that he wouldn’t seek re-election.
Article Credit: CNN

Speaker Paul Ryan town hall in two minutes

Jan 13, 2017 | WLSAM Staff

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The most notable moments from Thursday’s CNN town hall with House Speaker Paul Ryan.
By Theodore Schleifer, CNN
House Speaker Paul Ryan ran through the gamut of policy issues Thursday night that Republicans in Congress will tackle in the new administration, offering his thoughts on where he and President-elect Donald Trump saw eye-to-eye but also previewing a few looming disagreements.
Here are the top things he said on Thursday evening to CNN’s Jake Tapper:
On the urgency behind plans to repeal Obamacare
“The law is collapsing, and so we’ve got to rescue people.”
On when to replace the Affordable Care Act
“We want to do this at the same time, and in some cases in the same bill.”
On DACA, part of President Barack Obama’s executive orders on immigration
“I can see that you love your daughter and you’re a nice person who has a great future ahead of you, and I hope your future’s here,” Ryan told an undocumented woman who asked if she would be deported.
On whether there will be a “deportation force”
“I’m here to tell you, in Congress, it’s not happening,” Ryan responded, when reminded that Trump promised a “deportation force” on the presidential campaign trail.
On Trump’s attacking him on Twitter
“He did it to me all the time during the campaign. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say this is going to be a very unconventional president.”
On ‘dabbing’
“I actually do know what a dab is,” he said, recalling the moment this month when a congressman’s son confused him by performing the viral move in a photo with the speaker. “I thought he was sneezing.”
On why he supports legislation that defunds Planned Parenthood
“You don’t have these controversies by funding health centers.”
On lobbying reform
“What if you want to become an advocate for the cancer society?” Ryan asked, questioning the need for ultra-tough restrictions on congressional insiders. “What’s wrong with them advocating for causes that they believe in?”
On the intelligence community
“I think it has been politicized,” Ryan said of the intelligence community, agreeing with Trump. “I completely understand why he’s frustrated.”
On Russian President Vladimir Putin
“Russia is a global menace led by a man who is menacing. Vladimir Putin does not share our interests. He frustrates our interests.”

The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2017 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

Paul Ryan facing threats to speakership over Trump flap

Oct 12, 2016 | WLS-AM Staff
By Manu Raju and Deirdre Walsh, CNN
CNN
Speaker Paul Ryan is facing backlash from House Republicans over his flap with Donald Trump — and his own job may be on the line.
Rep. Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma — a conservative who voted for Ryan last year for speaker— is threatening to pull his support if the Wisconsin Republican won’t fall in line behind the GOP nominee.
“Given the stakes of this election, if Paul Ryan isn’t for Trump, then I’m not for Paul Ryan,” Bridenstine tweeted Wednesday.
Other conservative Republicans have also flashed their anger toward Ryan over his position that he wouldn’t defend or campaign with Trump, raising the specter that Bridenstine could be the first in a crowd of conservatives rebelling against the speaker.
The GOP has been gripped by infighting since a 2005 video surfaced last week showing Trump describing women in vulgar and sexually aggressive terms. Ryan hasn’t withdrawn his endorsement of Trump but he did tell House Republicans Monday that he will no longer defend the nominee and will devote the remainder of the campaign season to helping Republicans in House and Senate races.
Several angry GOP members on that call pushed back at Ryan, arguing he should continue to stand strongly behind Trump. Trump repeatedly blasted Ryan Tuesday, lamenting his leadership and blaming him for eroding party unity.
Yet on Wednesday, several of Trump’s biggest supporters in the House Republican Conference privately urged the campaign in a private conference call to back away from the Ryan attacks and focus on Democrats instead, according to a source on the call.
Ryan’s spokeswoman AshLee Strong said the speaker is “fighting to ensure we hold a strong majority next Congress, and he is always working to earn the respect and support of his colleagues.”
After backing Ryan in 2015, Bridenstine noted in a statement that his support came with conditions.
“I will work constructively with the new Speaker to advance sound legislation addressing the nation’s urgent needs, and I will also hold him accountable to lead House in responsibly performing its representational duties and advancing our national interests,” he said at the time.
The simmering tension is significant because there will be another vote next month for speaker. Assuming the GOP keeps control of the House, the Republican Conference will select its choice for speaker in mid-November in a closed-door secret ballot election. The election requires a majority support to be nominated for speaker.
But the more politically treacherous vote is in January when the full House will choose its speaker. Since Democrats will vote for their own candidate, Ryan wouldn’t be able to lose more than a handful of votes if the chamber is narrowly divided, as is expected. That means he would have to limit GOP defections in order to win the 218 votes needed to become speaker.
Ryan was already facing some pressure from some of his members on the right of the conference, many of whom have been critical he hasn’t pushed hard enough for their legislative priorities. Some House conservatives have called on GOP leaders to move the date for leadership elections later, saying they don’t want to vote for re-electing Ryan until they evaluate how he handles year-end spending negotiations. Asked about that request last month, Ryan said he expected the conference to vote at the same time it traditionally does after every election.
Last October, 10 House Republicans didn’t vote for Ryan when the entire House took a roll call vote for the speaker.
Meanwhile, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway held a conference call Wednesday with House Republicans who back the GOP nominee. The lawmakers urged Conway to tell Trump to focus his fire exclusively on Hillary Clinton — and not on his own party.
A source on the call said Conway acknowledged what they were saying about Ryan. But she did not commit one way or the other.

The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

Rep. Peter King: Republicans opposing Trump could cause ‘civil war’ in party

Oct 12, 2016 | WLS-AM Staff
By Chris Massie, CNN
New York Rep. Peter King said Tuesday that he thinks backlash from Donald Trump’s supporters to Republicans withdrawing their support for the GOP nominee could cause a “civil war” within the party.
King was asked on the “Bernie and Sid Show” on 77 WABC New York radio if he thinks that Trump supporters could vote for Democrats in down-ballot races to punish anti-Trump Republicans and House Speaker Paul Ryan, who told House Republicans on Monday that he would not campaign for Trump.
“That is a real risk, absolutely,” King replied. “And that’s why this could be a civil war because they look upon it as, ‘Okay, Republicans are gonna go against Trump, okay, then we’re gonna go against Republicans.’ Both sides are wrong in doing that. It’s like, you know, the old expression your mother said, biting off your nose to spite your face. But that’s really is what this is about.”
In the interview, King said Republicans “have to be concerned” about losing the House, but largely defended Ryan, who did not withdraw his endorsement of Trump after audiotape leaked on Friday of the GOP nominee describing how he forces himself on women. King called Ryan a “good guy” and that he understands “where Paul is coming from.” He reserved his strongest criticism for Republicans who withdrew their support from Trump after they heard the audio, saying there was an element of hypocrisy in their criticism of the party nominee.
“I think a lot of these guys who were complaining to Paul Ryan,” King said. “A lot of these guys who are nervous. I think they just hurt themselves. And again, listen, there’s a certain amount of hypocrisy here, when I hear people on television, including reporters, you know, god, these guys can be real low lives. And they’re on there, ‘I never heard language like this, I never heard anyone talk like this.’ Listen, the language is bad. It’s indefensible. But you hear it. Whether it’s an army barracks. Whether it’s the back room of a TV studio. Whether it’s congressmen sitting around a bar at night.”
King, whose district is on Long Island, said Trump might be “too New York” for some Republicans.
“There are people in the party who they resent the style, they resent the fact that even though he may have conservative positions, he doesn’t act like the buttoned-down Republican businessman,” he said. “They would love to have guys come in who act very starchy and very aloof and very sophisticated. Trump is too much like, with all his money, he’s still too much like the kid on the Queens street corner. He’s too New York for them.”

 

The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

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