Tag: Speaker Ryan

Ryan defends release of memo on alleged surveillance abuses but warns against tying it to Mueller probe

The following article by Karoun Demirjian was posted on the Washington Post website January 30, 2018:

After the House Intelligence Committee voted to release a classified memo, Republicans lauded the step while Democrats criticized it as a political deception.(Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Tuesday defended the way that Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes handled a politically divisive vote to publicize a classified memo detailing alleged surveillance abuses by federal law enforcement agencies, but he warned against using it to discredit the special counsel’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Ryan (R-Wis.) said Nunes (R-Calif.) was following a well-established process when the committee voted Monday to release a GOP-drafted memo to the public, provided President Trump does not block its efforts within five days. The panel also voted to make a memo drafted by Democrats rebutting the GOP’s document available to House members to read in a secure facility, as the panel had done with the GOP memo 11 days earlier along party lines. Continue reading “Ryan defends release of memo on alleged surveillance abuses but warns against tying it to Mueller probe”

Paul Ryan credits Koch network for supporting GOP’s tax overhaul

The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee was posted on the Washington Post website January 28, 2018:

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.). Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/European Pressphoto Agency

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) credited the network of billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch for being “such a critical part of our historic success in 2017,” highlighting its support for the tax code overhaul.

“Your network has been instrumental for allowing us to reach so many milestones that have long been talked about, but until this year, have not been achieved,” Ryan said in a three-minute video message aired to hundreds of Republican mega-donors attending a three-day meeting here. Continue reading “Paul Ryan credits Koch network for supporting GOP’s tax overhaul”

Paul Ryan Says He’s Sticking Around, Vague With Timeline

The following article by Lindsey McPherson was posted on the Roll Call website December 19, 2017:

Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., says he isn’t going anywhere, but hasn’t been specific about the timeline. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Tuesday sought to tamp down rumors that he’s planning to resign soon or retire at the end of 2018, separately telling the House Republican Conference and the press that he’s not going anywhere.

However, the Wisconsin Republican did not qualify either statement with a timeline, leaving open to the possibility that he may not seek another term in Congress. Continue reading “Paul Ryan Says He’s Sticking Around, Vague With Timeline”

Is Paul Ryan Planning to Step Down as Speaker of the House?

The following article by Jacob Sugarman was posted on the AlterNet website December 14, 2017:

Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Since Doug Jones’ improbable victory in the Alabama special Senate Election, Democrat Randy Bryce (aka the “Iron Stache“) claims he has raised tens of thousands of dollars for his congressional campaign in Wisconsin. But if the GOP succeeds in ramming through its regressive and hugely unpopular tax bill before December 27, when Jones is scheduled to assume office, Bryce may not be running against the Speaker of the House.

According to a new report, Republican lawmakers believe Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) might “step aside” if and when Donald Trump signs the Tax Cuts and Job Act into law. As one member of the House Freedom Caucus observes, it could be a “Boehner-meeting-the-Pope moment.” (John Boehner resigned as speaker of the House after watching Pope Francis deliver a joint address to Congress in 2015.) A devotee of the objectivist Ayn Rand, Ryan has made it his life’s work to dismantle the so-called welfare state. Continue reading “Is Paul Ryan Planning to Step Down as Speaker of the House?”

Speaker Ryan’s fuzzy math on the nation’s ‘terrible tax system’

The following article by Nicole Lewis was posted on the Washington Post website September 18, 2017:

“It is a terrible tax system that was written in ’86. … The headlines write themselves: We tax our corporations at 35 percent, and successful small businesses are taxed as high as 44.6 percent. The average tax rate in the industrialized world for businesses is 22.5 percent.”

— House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), during an interview with the Associated Press, Sept. 13, 2017

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan wants Americans to start 2018 with a new tax system. After the Republican-controlled Congress failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the pressure is mounting to pass major legislation. And Ryan is hoping to win on taxes. Continue reading “Speaker Ryan’s fuzzy math on the nation’s ‘terrible tax system’”

Paul Ryan whines about Democrats maybe doing what he did for years

The following article by Josh Israel was posted on the ThinkProgress website September 6, 2017:

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) expressed outrage Wednesday at the notion that Democrats would attempt to protect hundreds of thousands of DACA beneficiaries in an upcoming vote on the debt ceiling, warning that they should not “play politics” as the nation deals with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and prepares for Hurricane Irma.  But while he called such an effort “ridiculous and disgraceful,” his own record stands in sharp contrast to his rhetoric.

At a press conference, Ryan was asked about reports that Democrats would seek a three-month debt limit increase and might attempt to attach protections for children of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as minors (a provision that President Trump demanded Congress consider). Continue reading “Paul Ryan whines about Democrats maybe doing what he did for years”

Trump’s Relationship with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell Might Just Have Hit Rock Bottom

The following article by Jefferson Morley was posted on the AlterNet website September 7, 2017:

The president dumps the GOP for a fling with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi.

Credit: Business Insider

With the election of Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan made a Faustian bargain. They embraced Trump—an impulsive and ignorant man, filled with racial animus—with the hope they could ride his popularity with conservative voters to enact their agenda of tax cuts and deregulation.

Their corruption caught up with them on Wednesday. Trump humiliated the Republican leaders by siding with their Democratic counterparts Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. In a White House meeting, Trump blindsided his allies and endorsed the Democrats’ proposal for hurricane relief and raising the debt ceiling. Continue reading “Trump’s Relationship with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell Might Just Have Hit Rock Bottom”

A day of chaos at the Capitol as House Republicans back down on ethics changes

 

The following article by Robert Costa, Mike DeBonis and Philip Rucker was posted on the Washington Post website January 3, 2017:

A day of pageantry to open the 115th Congress and usher in a new period of Republican governance was overtaken Tuesday by an embarrassing reversal on ethics oversight, with the GOP gripped by internal division and many lawmakers seeking to shield themselves from extensive scrutiny.

The 19 hours of tumult was set in motion the night before behind closed doors at the Longworth House Office Building, where Republican lawmakers decided over the objections of Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) to amend House rules to effectively gut the independent Office of Congressional Ethics. Continue reading “A day of chaos at the Capitol as House Republicans back down on ethics changes”