Page 12 - Trending_040218

Speaker Ryan is expected to seek re-election; will he stay?
By LISA MASCARO , AP Congressional Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) — Paul Ryan’s future as House speaker has been such a topic of speculation that even the simple question of whether he will seek re-election to his Wis- consin seat remains secret.
O cially, Ryan says he’s still deciding. But a person familiar with Ryan’s thinking told e Associated Press this week the speaker plans to le campaign paperwork and intends to win his seat.
To do so, the Republican would have to fend o primary challengers, including one styled a er President Donald Trump, and Democrats are red up about a union iron- worker, Randy Bryce, who goes by the Twitter moniker “Iron Stache.”
If Ryan emerges victorious, even those clos- est to him aren’t certain he’ll stay in Congress, particularly if Republicans lose their House majority. Asked whether Ryan would serve
in the minority, the person who discussed his re-election plans with AP would not say.
e person was not authorized to discuss Ryan’s plans and spoke on condition of ano- nymity.
Ryan’s political spokesman Jeremy Adler said ursday, “ e speaker speaks for him- self on this topic, and there is no update to his last public comments.”
Washington has been guessing about Ryan’s next step for months, with reports rising to
a minor frenzy as allies seek to dispel any notion of a lame-duck speaker, which would be damaging both to fundraising e orts and to governing.
Some Republicans speculate that Ryan’s work in Congress is complete now that he’s accomplished his career goal of ushering tax cuts into law. Even if Republicans keep control of the House, it’s doubtful he could achieve much more as speaker, a job he never wanted in the rst place, especially with an unreliable partner in Trump. It’s even harder, they say, to envision him as minority leader.
Charlie Sykes, an author and longtime ally who had a falling out with Ryan over the GOP’s embrace of Trump, is among those betting the speaker moves on.
“I can’t imagine him wanting to stick around too long,” said Sykes, who pinned Ry- an’s dilemma on a president who “undermines
and distracts” from the GOP’s agenda. “ is has been the story of the last two years — him trying to push this policy agenda amid the storm of distractions from the president.”
Others expect Ryan still has sizable goals he’d like to accomplish, including downsiz- ing the welfare system and other safety net programs, as he outlined in an impassioned monologue to reporters a er the tax bill last year. And as much as Ryan fancies himself a policy wonk who prefers the realm of ideas, he’s actually become increasingly skilled at the art of politics.
Unlike his predecessor, Speaker John Boeh- ner, who was forced into early retirement by the House’s rebellious right ank, Ryan has been able to persuade the conservative Freedom Caucus and others from open revolt. If he wants another term as speaker or leader, Ryan may well be able to secure the votes to win it.
“He’s an eternal optimist,” said Luke Hilgemann, former head of the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity, who now runs GOP campaigns in Wisconsin and other states. “He believes the job isn’t done yet.”
And so the debate rolls on. A er one report late last year suggesting Ryan’s 2018 campaign would be his last, Trump called the speaker to let him know he would be disappointed if that were true. e speaker assured the president he had no plans to leave, according to those familiar with the call.
Just this week, a Republican congressman, Mark Amodei of Nevada, mused openly to home-state reporters of “rumors” the speaker would not only retire from Congress, but that the No. 3 Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise of Lousiana, was on deck to replace him as speaker. It caused a mini-uproar nationally,
and overwhelmed the Reno news site.
Later, Amodei said he had no regrets about
publicly sharing the chatter from Congress. But he also acknowledged he had no rsthand knowledge of Ryan’s thinking.
“He’s got to say, ‘I want to be the speaker in the 116th Congress,” Amodei told AP, refer- ring to the session a er the election. “I haven’t heard, ‘I want to be the speaker of the House.”
Ryan has allowed questions to linger in part because he keeps his inner circle of con - dantes close and doesn’t always fully commit to staying on the job, which he reluctantly took in 2015 a er Boehner retired. At the time, the next-in-line Republican, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, with- drew from the race when it appeared he did not have enough support.
It’s now a jump ball if McCarthy or Scalise would win the speaker’s job if Ryan were to step aside. Both are popular with House Re- publicans, but they also have limitations. Mc- Carthy is not seen as conservative enough by some hard-liners and Scalise is still recovering from life-threatening wounds a er being shot at congressional baseball practice last year. Neither is openly jockeying to take on Ryan.
Ryan has shown few obvious signs of a desire to quit, raising $44 million and visiting 30 states in 2017, much of the money for the House GOP’s campaign committee. e ling deadline in Wisconsin is in June. A Ryan political aide said that talking about the House GOP’s record and ensuring candidates have enough resources to run remain Ryan’s “top priorities.”
Asked earlier this year if he would stay on as speaker if Republicans retain the majority, Ryan le room for debate.
“Am I going to be speaker? Yes, if we keep the majority, then the Republican speaker,” he said in January on CBS’ Face the nation. “You’re asking me if I’m going to run for re-election? at’s a decision my wife and I always make each and every term when we have ling in Wisconsin late in spring. And I haven’t — I’m not going to share my thinking with you before I even talk to my wife.”
Pressed, he said: “I have no plans of going anywhere anytime soon.”
___
Follow Mascaro on Twitter at https://twitter. com/LisaMascaro
12 | TRENDING