Paul Ryan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Official portrait, 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 54thSpeaker of the United States House of Representatives | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office October 29, 2015 – January 3, 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | John Boehner | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Nancy Pelosi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWisconsin's1st district | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office January 3, 1999 – January 3, 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Mark Neumann | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Bryan Steil | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Paul Davis Ryan (1970-01-29)January 29, 1970 (age 55) Janesville,Wisconsin, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Republican | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Miami University (BA) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Awards | Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ryan supporting theFoundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act Recorded November 15, 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American politician who served as the 54thspeaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. A member of theRepublican Party, he was the party'svice presidential nominee in the2012 election running alongsideMitt Romney, losing to PresidentBarack Obama and Vice PresidentJoe Biden.
Ryan is a native ofJanesville, Wisconsin, and graduated fromMiami University in 1992. He spent five years working for Congress in Washington, D.C., becoming a speechwriter, then returned to Wisconsin in 1997 to work at his family's construction company. He was elected to Congress to representWisconsin's 1st congressional district the following year, replacingMark Neumann, who had vacated the seat to run for U.S. Senate. Ryan went on to represent the district for 20 years. He chaired theHouse Budget Committee from 2011 to 2015, and briefly chaired theHouse Ways and Means Committee in 2015.
A self-proclaimeddeficit hawk, Ryan was a major proponent ofSocial Security privatization in the mid-2000s. During the 2010s, two proposals heavily influenced by Ryan—"The Path to Prosperity" and "A Better Way"—became part of the national dialogue advocating for the privatization ofMedicare, the conversion ofMedicaid into ablock grant program, the repeal of theAffordable Care Act, and significant federal tax cuts. In October 2015, after SpeakerJohn Boehner's resignation, Ryan waselected to replace him. During his speakership, he played a key role in the passage of theTax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and theEconomic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act in 2018, which partially repealed theDodd–Frank Act.
Ryan declined to run for re-election in the2018 midterm elections. With theDemocratic Party taking control of the House of Representatives,Nancy Pelosi succeeded Ryan as Speaker of the House.[1]
Paul Davis Ryan was born on January 29, 1970, inJanesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann, who later became an interior designer, and Paul Murray Ryan, a lawyer.[2][3] He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was ofIrish ancestry and his mother ofGerman andEnglish descent.[4] One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to theCivil War.[5] His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan, founded anearthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central.[6][7] Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan, was appointedUnited States attorney for theWestern District of Wisconsin.[8][9] In 2018, while filming a segment for the PBS seriesFinding Your Roots, Ryan learned that his DNA results included 3 percentAshkenazi Jewish ancestry.[10]
Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, then attendedJoseph A. Craig High School,[11] where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus becameprom king.[12] As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on theschool board.[13] Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill atMcDonald's.[13] He was on his high school'sski, track, andvarsity soccer teams and playedbasketball in a Catholic recreational league.[14][15][16] He participated in several academic and social clubs including theModel United Nations.[13][14] Ryan and his family often went on hiking andskiing trips to theColoradoRocky Mountains.[17][9]
Although Ryan's father was not a lifelong heavy drinker, staying sober for nearly twenty years after his first stint in rehabilitation, he had become an alcoholic by the time Ryan was a teenager. Ryan later commented on his relationship with his father, whom he revered as a young child, stating that "[alcohol] made him more distant, irritable and stressed ... whiskey had washed away some of the best parts of the man I knew."[18] When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack, something Ryan later partially attributed to heavy alcohol consumption.[9][13][19] Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she hadAlzheimer's, Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin.[13] From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan receivedSocial Security survivors benefits which were saved for his college education.[20][21][22] His mother later married widower Bruce Douglas.[2][23]
Ryan has a bachelor's degree ineconomics andpolitical science fromMiami University inOxford, Ohio,[24] where he became interested in the writings ofFriedrich Hayek,Ludwig von Mises, andMilton Friedman.[13] He often visited the office oflibertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and ofAyn Rand.[13][25] Hart introduced Ryan toNational Review,[13] and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began aninternship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. SenatorBob Kasten, where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser.[13][26]
Ryan attended the Washington Semester program atAmerican University.[27] He worked summers as a salesman forOscar Mayer and once got to drive theWienermobile.[9][25][28] Ryan was a member of theCollege Republicans,[29] and volunteered for the congressional campaign ofJohn Boehner.[25] He was a member of theDelta Tau Delta socialfraternity.[30]
Betty Ryan reportedly urged her son to accept a congressional position as a legislative aide in Senator Kasten's office, which he did after graduating in 1992.[26][31][32] In his early years working onCapitol Hill, Ryan supplemented his income by working as a waiter, as a fitness trainer, and at other jobs.[9][28]
A few months after Kasten lost to DemocratRuss Feingold in the1992 election, Ryan became aspeechwriter for Empower America (which later becameFreedomWorks), a conservative advocacy group founded byJack Kemp,Jeane Kirkpatrick, andWilliam Bennett.[9][33][34]
Ryan later worked as a speechwriter for Kemp,[35] the Republican vice presidential candidate in the1996 United States presidential election. Kemp became Ryan's mentor, and Ryan has said he had a "huge influence".[36]
In 1995, Ryan became the legislative director for then-U.S. congressmanSam Brownback ofKansas. In 1997 he returned to Wisconsin and worked for a year as amarketing consultant for theconstruction company Ryan Incorporated Central, owned by his relatives.[13][33][37]
Ryan was first elected to the House in 1998, winning the 1st District seat of RepublicanMark Neumann, a two-term incumbent who had vacated his seat to make an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate. 28-year-old Ryan won the Republican primary over 29-year-old pianist Michael J. Logan ofTwin Lakes,[38] and the general election againstDemocratLydia Spottswood.[39] This made him the second-youngest member of the House.[13]
Reelected eight times, Ryan never received less than 55 percent of the vote in a congressional election. He defeated Democratic challengerJeffrey C. Thomas in the 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006 elections.[40] In the2008 election, Ryan defeated Democrat Marge Krupp.[40]
In the2010 general election, he defeated Democrat John Heckenlively and Libertarian Joseph Kexel.[41] In 2012, under Wisconsinelection law, Ryan was allowed to run concurrently for vice president and for Congress[42] and was not allowed to remove his name from the Congressional ballot after being nominated for the vice presidency.[43] He faced Democratic nominee Rob Zerban. As of July 25, 2012, Ryan had over $5.4 million in his congressional campaign account, more than any other House member.[44][45][46] He was reelected with 55 percent of his district's vote[47] and 44 percent of the vote in his hometown, Janesville.[48]
Zerban again challenged Ryan in the2014 House election.[49] Ryan won with 63 percent of his district's vote.[50]
In the 2016 Republican primary election, Ryan faced businessmanPaul Nehlen, who had been endorsed bySarah Palin.[51] Because of Nehlen's support for Trump, Trump publicly thanked him on Twitter and later toldThe Washington Post that Nehlen was "running a very good campaign", even though he did not endorse him.[52][53][54] On August 5, 2016, Trump endorsed Ryan's re-election after pressure from fellow Republican leaders.[55] In the primary election on August 9, 2016,[56] Ryan overwhelmingly defeated Nehlen, taking over 84 percent of the vote.[57] In the November general election, Ryan faced Democrat Rebecca Solen[57] and won with 65 percent of his district's vote.[58]
Committee assignments
As Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ryan was not a chair or a member of any committee. Prior to his speakership, Ryan held the following assignments:
Caucus memberships
Ryan became the ranking Republican member of theHouse Budget Committee in 2007[62] and became chairman of the committee in 2011 after Republicans took control of the House. That same year, he was selected to deliver theRepublican response to the State of the Union address.[63] As of August 2012, Ryan had been the primary sponsor of more than 70bills or amendments,[64][65] and only two of those bills had become law.[66] One, passed in July 2000, renamed a post office in Ryan's district; the other, passed in December 2008, lowered theexcise tax onarrow shafts.[67][68] As of August 2012, Ryan had also co-sponsored 975 bills, of which 176 had passed; 22% of these bills were originally sponsored by a Democrat.[69][66]
Ryan was a "reliable supporter of the [George W. Bush] administration's foreign policy priorities" who voted for the 2002Iraq Resolution, authorizing the2003 invasion of Iraq.[70]
In 2010, Ryan was a member of the bipartisanNational Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Bowles-Simpson Commission), which was tasked with developing a plan to reduce the federal deficit. He voted against the final report of the commission.[71] In 2012, Ryan accused the nation's top military leaders of using "smoke and mirrors" to remain under budget limits passed by Congress.[72][73] Ryan later said that he misspoke on the issue and calledGeneralMartin Dempsey, thechairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to apologize for his comments.[74]
Dan Balz ofThe Washington Post wrote that Ryan was promoted as a candidate for vice president "by major elements of the conservative opinion makers, includingThe Wall Street Journal editorial page, theWeekly Standard and the editor ofNational Review".[75]
On August 11, 2012, the Romney campaign announced Ryan as its choice for Vice President[76] through its "Mitt's VP"mobile app.[77] It was reported that Romney had offered the position to Ryan on August 1, 2012,[78] the day after returning from a foreign policy trip to the United Kingdom,Poland, andIsrael.[79] On August 11, 2012, Ryan formally accepted Romney's invitation to join his campaign as his running mate, in front of theUSSWisconsin in Norfolk.[80] Ryan is the first individual fromWisconsin[81] as well as the first member ofGeneration X[82] to run on amajor party's national ticket.
Also in August 2012, theAssociated Press published a story saying that while theTea Party movement had wanted a nominee other than Romney, it had gotten "one of its ideological heroes" in the vice presidential slot. According to the article, Ryan supports the Tea Party's belief in "individual rights, distrust of big government and an allegorical embrace of the Founding Fathers".[83]
According to a statistical-historical analysis conducted byNate Silver, "Ryan is the most conservative Republican member of Congress to be picked for the vice-presidential slot since at least 1900" and "is also more conservative than any Democratic nominee [for vice president who previously served in the Congress] was liberal, meaning that he is the furthest from the center" of any vice presidential candidate chosen from Congress since the turn of the 20th century.[84]
Political scientist Eric Schickler commented that while Ryan "may well be the most conservative vice presidential nominee in decades," the NOMINATE methodology "is not suited to making claims about the relative liberalism or conservatism of politicians" over a long time span.[85] AUSA Today/Gallup poll found that 39% thought Ryan was an "excellent" or "pretty good" vice presidential choice, compared to 42% who felt he was a "fair" or "poor" choice.[86]
Ryan formally accepted his nomination at the2012 Republican National Convention on August 29, 2012.[87] In his acceptance speech, he promotedMitt Romney as the presidential candidate, supported repeal of thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA),[88] said that he and Romney had a plan to generate 12 million new jobs over the ensuing four years, and promoted founding principles as a solution: "We will not duck the tough issues—we will lead. We will not spend four years blaming others—we will take responsibility. We will not try to replace our founding principles, we will reapply our founding principles."[88]
The speech was well received by the convention audience and praised for being well-delivered.[89][90] Some fact-checkers purported that there were important factual omissions and that he presented details out of context.[91][92][93][94] Conservative media (includingJennifer Rubin ofThe Washington Post,[95] theInvestor's Business Daily,[96] andFox News[97]) disputed some of the fact-checkers' findings. Of 33 of Ryan's statements which Politifact.com suspected of being false or misleading, it rated 10.5% as True, 18% as Mostly True, 21% as Half True, 36% as Mostly False, 9% as False, and 6% as Pants on Fire.[98] On October 11, 2012, Ryan debated his Democratic counterpart, incumbent Vice PresidentJoe Biden, inthe only vice presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle.[99][100]
Romney and Ryan lost the 2012 presidential election, but Ryan retained his seat in the House of Representatives.[101][102]
On September 25, 2015,John Boehner formally announced to House Republicans his intention to resign from the speakership and the House.[103] Among those interested in the post,Kevin McCarthy—who had wide support among Republicans, including Boehner, and Ryan, who was set to officially nominate him—was considered the presumptive favorite.[104][105] His candidacy was opposed by conservative House Republicans of theFreedom Caucus, and when it became clear that caucus members would not support his candidacy, McCarthy withdrew his name from consideration on October 8. This led many Republicans to turn to Ryan as a compromise candidate. The push included a plea from Boehner, who reportedly told Ryan that he was the only person who could unite the House Republicans at a time of turmoil.[106] Ryan released a statement that said, "While I am grateful for the encouragement I've received, I will not be a candidate."[107] The next day however, close aides of Ryan's confirmed that Ryan had re-evaluated the situation, and was considering the possibility of a run.[108][109]
Ryan confirmed on October 22, that he would seek the speakership after receiving the endorsements of two factions of House Republicans, including the conservativeFreedom Caucus.[110][111] Ryan, upon confirming his bid for the speakership, stated, "I never thought I'd be speaker. But I pledged to you that if I could be a unifying figure, then I would serve – I would go all in. After talking with so many of you, and hearing your words of encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as one, united team. And I am ready and eager to be our speaker."[112]
On October 29, Ryan was elected Speaker, receiving 236 votes, anabsolute majority of the 435-member chamber.DemocratNancy Pelosi received 184 votes, with 12 more going to others.[113][114] After the vote Ryan delivered his first remarks as speaker-elect and wassworn in byJohn Conyers, thedean of the House, becoming, at age 45, the youngest person elected as speaker sinceJames G. Blaine (age 39) in 1869.[115][116] Later, he named lobbyistJohn David Hoppe as hischief of staff.[117][118]
Ryan became the leader of the House Republicans upon becoming Speaker. However, by tradition, he largely stopped taking part in debate and made only a few votes from the floor. He was also not a member of any committees.
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AfterDonald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2016 presidential election on May 4, 2016, Ryan was hesitant to endorse him, stating on May 5 that he was "not ready".[119] Ryan and Trump met in private on May 12, releasing a joint statement afterward, acknowledging their differences but stating "we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground."[120] On June 2, Ryan announced his support for Trump in an op-ed inThe Janesville Gazette.[121]
The following day, June 3, amid Trump's criticism of JudgeGonzalo P. Curiel, Ryan said Trump's critique "just was out of left field for my mind," and voiced disagreement with him.[122] On June 7, Ryan disavowed Trump's comments about Curiel because he believed they were "the textbook definition of a racist comment". Nevertheless, Ryan continued to endorse Trump, believing that more Republican policies will be enacted under Donald Trump than presumptive Democratic nomineeHillary Clinton.[123] On June 15, afterKevin McCarthy stated during a conversation among Republicans, "There's two people I thinkPutin pays:Rohrabacher and Trump. Swear to God", Ryan interjected, "No leaks. This is how we know we're a real family here."[124]
On July 5, after FBI directorJames Comey advocated against pressing charges against Clinton for her email scandal, Ryan said Comey's decision "defies explanation" and stated that "[d]eclining to prosecute Secretary Clinton for recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent."[125]
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Ryan suggested that candidate Trump should release his tax returns.[126]
In October 2016, following theDonald TrumpAccess Hollywood controversy, Ryan disinvited Trump from a scheduled campaign rally,[127] and announced that he would no longer defend or support Trump's presidential campaign but would focus instead on Congressional races. He also freed down-ticket congress members to use their own judgment about Trump, saying "you all need to do what's best for you and your district."[128] Trump then went on to attack Ryan, accusing him and other "disloyal" Republicans of deliberately undermining his candidacy as part of "a whole sinister deal".[129][130]
Two months after the2016 elections, Ryan was re-elected Speaker of the House on January 3, 2017, the opening day of the115th Congress. He received 239 votes to House Democratic Leader Pelosi's 189 votes (with 5 more going to others).[131]
On February 7, 2017, Ryan told reporters a replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be introduced "this year" amid speculation Donald Trump would not act toward doing so until the following year.[132] On March 9, Ryan gave a 30-minute lecture explaining the proposed replacement for the ACA, titled theAmerican Health Care Act (AHCA).[133] On March 30, Ryan said that he did not intend to work with Democrats on repealing and replacing the ACA, reasoning their involvement would lead to "government running health care."[134] On April 4, Ryan confirmed renewed discussions of an ACA replacement, but warned that a replacement was in the "conceptual" stages of its development.[135] On May 4, the House narrowly voted for the AHCA to repeal the ACA.[136] On May 9, Ryan said that "a month or two" would pass before the Senate would pass its own ACA repeal and replacement legislation.[137] The Senate created several of its own versions of the act but was unable to pass any of them.[138]
In May 2017, Ryan said Congress' goal was "calendared 2017 for tax reform" and reported progress was being made in doing so.[139] In December 2017, both houses of Congress passed a $1.5 trillion tax bill called theTax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which Trump signed into law on December 22.[140] The tax law is projected to add an additional $1.5 trillion to the national debt over a decade, but the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation also estimated that the GDP level on average would be 0.7% higher during the same period.[141][142][143] In the weeks leading up to his retirement announcement, Ryan also championed a $1.3 trillion government-wide spending bill that boosted military spending significantly.[144]Politico noted that Ryan "clamored for austerity when he's been in the minority, trashing Democrats as profligate budget-busters, but he's happily busted budgets in the majority."[141]
In June 2017, Ryan expressed support for strong sanctions on Russia in response to Russian interference in the 2016 elections and its annexation of the Crimea, saying that Russia's actions were "unacceptable".[145] He urged Special CounselRobert Mueller and Congressional oversight committees to "do their jobs so that we can get to the bottom of all of this."[146] In July Congress passed a bill imposing new sanctions on Russia and giving Congress the power to overrule White House attempts to roll back sanctions. Both houses passed the bill with veto-proof majorities (98–2 in the Senate, 419–3 in the House), so Trump reluctantly signed it into law on August 2, 2017.[147][145]
Ryan provided political cover forDevin Nunes, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, who many characterized as a source of the dysfunction in the committee as it investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election.[144] Nunes accused the Obama administration of improperly "unmasking" the identities of Trump associates (which led Nunes' temporary recusal from the committee's Russia investigation), accused the FBI of misconduct, leaked the text messages of SenatorMark Warner (in an effort to misleadingly suggest impropriety on his behalf), and threatened to impeach FBI director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.[148][149] The House Intelligence Committee was one of few so-called "select" committees in Congress, which meant that it was up to Ryan to decide the chairman of the committee.[148]
Despite having favored comprehensive immigration earlier in his congressional career, Speaker Ryan prevented immigration legislation from being advanced in the House.[144][150] When President Trump endedDeferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) – which granted temporary stay for undocumented immigrants brought into the United States as minors – Ryan said DACA recipients should "rest easy" because Congress would solve the problem for them, but Ryan backed no bills to protect DACA recipients.[151]
An article inThe Washington Post described Ryan's relationship with President Trump as "friendly, if occasionally uneasy," adding that "Ryan did little to check the president or encourage oversight of his administration."[144] Ryan supported Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, and did not support legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.[144] Ryan said that legislation to protect Mueller's investigation was not "necessary".[152]
On April 11, 2018, Ryan announced that he would not run for re-election in November, saying, "I like to think I've done my part, my little part in history to set us on a better course." In response, Trump tweeted, "Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question."[153]
In May 2018, Ryan led the House in passing theEconomic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, which partially repealed theDodd-Frank Act.[154] It was signed into law by President Trump a few days later.
After Republicans lost control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections, Ryan suggested that there were irregularities about the election results in California. Ryan said that California's election system was "bizarre", "defies logic" and that "there are a lot of races there we should have won." After Ryan's remarks were reported on, Ryan's spokesperson said "The Speaker did not and does not dispute the results".[155]
Following Ryan's retirement announcement, an article inThe Washington Post stated that Ryan was "leav[ing] behind a legacy of dramatically expanded government spending and immense deficits, a GOP president unchecked, a broken immigration system, and a party that's fast abandoning the free-trade principles that he himself championed."[144] According to the Associated Press, Ryan "achieved one of his career goals: rewriting the tax code"; however, "on his other defining aim—balancing the budget and cutting back benefit programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—Ryan has utterly failed".[142]
In fiscal year 2008, Ryan garnered $5.4 million in congressionalearmarks, including $3.28 million forbus service in Wisconsin, $1.38 million for theIce Age Trail, and $735,000 for the Janesville transit system.[156] In 2009, he successfully advocated with theDepartment of Energy forstimulus funds for energy initiatives in his district.[156]
Other home district projects he has supported include a runway extension at theSouthern Wisconsin Regional Airport, an environmental study of theKenosha Harbor, firefighting equipment for Janesville, road projects in Wisconsin, and commuter rail and streetcar projects in Kenosha. In 2008, Ryan pledged to stop seeking earmarks. Prior to that he had sought earmarks less often than other representatives.[157]Taxpayers for Common Sense records show no earmarks supported by Ryan for fiscal years 2009 and 2010.[156] In 2012, Ryan supported a request for $3.8 million from theDepartment of Transportation for a new transit center in Janesville,[157] which city officials received in July.[158]
Ryan was an active member of a task force established by Wisconsin governorJim Doyle that tried unsuccessfully to persuadeGeneral Motors to keep its assembly plant in Janesville open. He made personal contact with GM executives to try to convince them to save or retool the plant, offering GM hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded incentives.[159] Following the closure of factories in Janesville and Kenosha, constituents expressed dissatisfaction with Ryan's voting history.[160] During the 2011 congressional summer break, Ryan heldtown hall meetings by telephone with constituents. The only public meetings Ryan attended in his district required an admission fee of at least $15.[161][162][undue weight? –discuss]
In August 2011, constituents in Kenosha andRacine protested when Ryan would not meet with them about economic and employment issues, after weeks of emailed requests from them. His Kenosha office locked its doors and filed a complaint with the police, who told the protesters that they were not allowed in Ryan's office.[160][161][163]
Ryan maintained a mobile office to serve constituents in outlying areas.[164]
The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), aSuper PAC, has been closely linked and aligned with Ryan.[165][166][167] Ryan has directed major GOP donors towards the CLF.[168]
Ryan's political positions were generallyconservative, with a focus onfiscal policy.[169] Ryan "played a central role in nearly all" the policy debates of the period 2010–2012.[169] In 2012, Ryan voted against theSimpson–Bowles commission proposal to reduce the deficit, because the proposal raised taxes and failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act.[170] While he was a self-proclaimed deficit hawk, Ryan's tenure of Speaker of the House saw a major expansion in government spending and a ballooning of deficits despite unified Republican control of Congress and the White House, no recession and no new foreign conflict.[144][150][171]
Ryan subscribed tosupply-side economics and supported tax cuts including eliminating thecapital gains tax, the corporate income tax, theestate tax, and theAlternative Minimum Tax.[172][173][174] Ryan supports deregulation, including theGramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999, which repealed some financial regulation of banks from theGlass–Steagall Act of 1933.[175] During the economic recovery from theGreat Recession of the late 2000s, Ryan supported theTroubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which authorized the Treasury to purchasetoxic assets from banks and other financial institutions, and theauto industry bailout; Ryan opposed theCredit CARD Act of 2009, which expanded consumer protections regarding credit card plans, and theDodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which strengthened financial regulation.[175][176][177] In 2018 as House Speaker, Ryan helped pass theEconomic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act that repealed large parts of Dodd-Frank.[154]
In 2016, Ryan rolled out a set of anti-poverty proposals that "seek to expand work requirements for those receiving federal benefits, to give states and local jurisdictions a greater role in administering those benefits, to better measure the results of federal programs for the poor, and to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse."[178] Ryan believes federalpoverty reduction programs are ineffective and he supports cuts to welfare, child care,Pell Grants, food stamps, and other federal assistance programs.[179][180][181] Ryan supportsblock grantingMedicaid to the states and theprivatization ofsocial security andMedicare.[182][172][173][183] Ryan supported theMedicare Part D prescription drug benefit and opposes thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as "Obamacare."[175][184][185] Ryan supported theAmerican Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA), the 2017 House Republican plan to repeal and replace the ACA.[186][187] In 2012,The New York Times said Ryan was "his party's most forceful spokesman for cutting entitlement spending."[169]
Ryan's non-fiscal policy positions were subject to additional national attention with his 2012 candidacy for vice president.[188] Ryan ispro-life and opposesabortion rights.[189][190] Ryan opposed theLilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which provides that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action.[191][192] In 2012, Ryan supportedcivil unions and opposedsame-sex marriage.[188][193]
Ryan supportedschool vouchers, and supported theNo Child Left Behind Act in 2001 and its repeal theEvery Student Succeeds Act in 2015.[194][195] Ryan is unsure, and believesclimate scientists are unsure, of the impact ofhuman activity on climate change.[196][197] Ryan supported tax incentives for the petroleum industry and opposed them forrenewable energy.[184][198] Ryan supportedgun rights and opposed strictergun control.[188][199] Ryan supported thewars in Iraq andAfghanistan.[175][200]
Ryan condemnedBarack Obama's decision not to block aUN resolution criticizingIsraeli settlement building in the occupiedPalestinian territories as "absolutely shameful".[201] Ryan supported President Donald Trump's decision torecognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. He stated: "Jerusalem has been, and always will be, the eternal, undivided capital of the State of Israel."[202]
Following the2018 Russia–United States Summit, in which Donald Trump stated that he believed Russian government did notinterfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Ryan confirmed his belief that Russian government interfered and advocated for moreeconomic sanctions against Russia for the interference.[203]
Ryan supported U.S. involvement in theSaudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war and used his power to block a House vote on the war inYemen.[204][better source needed]
In a 2022 interview, Ryan described himself as a "Never-Again Trumper." While he was "proud of the accomplishments [during the Trump administration]", Ryan highlighted how under Trump, the Republican Party lost elections in2018,2020, and2022, and said that the party should thus distance itself from Trump.[205] A year later, Ryan would deride Trump as a "populist, authoritarian narcissist" and "not a conservative."[206] In June 2024, Ryan stated he would not vote for Trump in the2024 presidential election, instead planning towrite-in another candidate because of Trump's lack of "character."[207] Prior to theRepublican primaries, Ryan privately encouraged CongressmanMike Gallagher to supportNikki Haley's presidential campaign.[208]
At a 2005 Washington, D.C., gathering celebrating the 100th anniversary ofAyn Rand's birth, Ryan credited Rand with having inspired him to get involved in politics.[182] In a speech that same year atThe Atlas Society, he said he grew up reading Rand, and that her books taught him about his value system and beliefs.[209][210] Ryan required staffers and interns in his congressional office to read Rand,[210] and gave copies of her novelAtlas Shrugged as gifts to his staff forChristmas.[211][212] In his Atlas Society speech, he also describedSocial Security as a "socialist-based system".[213]
In 2009, Ryan said, "What's unique about what's happening today in government, in the world, in America, is that it's as if we're living in an Ayn Rand novel right now. I think Ayn Rand did the best job of anybody to build a moral case of capitalism, and that morality of capitalism is under assault."[211]
In April 2012, after receiving criticism fromGeorgetown University faculty members on his budget plan, Ryan rejected Rand's philosophy ofObjectivism asatheistic, saying it "reduces human interactions down to mere contracts".[214] He also called the reports of his adherence to Rand's views an "urban legend" and stated that he was instead deeply influenced by hisCatholic faith and byThomas Aquinas.[215]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Paul Ryan (WI 1) | 236 | 54.63 | |
| Democratic | Nancy Pelosi (CA 12) | 184 | 42.60 | |
| Republican | Dan Webster (FL 10) | 9 | 2.08 | |
| Democratic | Jim Cooper (TN 5) | 1 | 0.23 | |
| Democratic | John Lewis (GA 5) | 1 | 0.23 | |
| Republican | Colin Powell | 1 | 0.23 | |
| Total votes | 432 | 100 | ||
| Votes necessary | 217 | >50 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Paul Ryan* (WI 1) | 239 | 55.19 | |
| Democratic | Nancy Pelosi (CA 12) | 189 | 43.65 | |
| Democratic | Tim Ryan (OH 13) | 2 | 0.47 | |
| Democratic | Jim Cooper (TN 5) | 1 | 0.23 | |
| Democratic | John Lewis (GA 5) | 1 | 0.23 | |
| Republican | Dan Webster (FL 10) | 1 | 0.23 | |
| Total votes | 433 | 100 | ||
| Votes necessary | 217 | >50 | ||
In March 2019, Ryan joined the board of directors ofFox Corporation, the owner ofFox News Channel and the Fox broadcast network.[218] In August 2019, he joined the board ofSHINE Medical Technologies.[219] He later joined the faculty of theUniversity of Notre Dame as a professor of practice for the 2019–20 academic year as a guest lecturer in political science and economics.[220] In April 2019, Ryan was nominated as the delegation leader to represent President Trump in a visit to Taipei. With Taiwanese PresidentTsai Ing-wen, he attended the 40th-anniversary ceremony of theTaiwan Relations Act.[221] In October 2019, Ryan launched a non-profit called American Idea Foundation.[222]
In October 2020, Ryan joined the public relations and advisory companyTeneo as a senior advisor.[223][224] In February 2021 he became a partner in the Boston private equity investment firm Solamere Capital.[225][226]
On May 17, 2023, Ryan unveiled his official portrait at the U.S. Capitol during a ceremony inStatuary Hall. During his speech, he said, "Only in America would it be possible for a kid from Janesville to go from an intern to the Speaker of the House".[227]
In December 2000, Ryan married Janna Christine Little[228] who is atax attorney. Janna Ryan is a native ofMadill, Oklahoma, and a graduate of bothWellesley College andGeorge Washington University Law School.[20][229] The Ryans live in theCourthouse Hill Historic District ofJanesville, Wisconsin.[14] They have three children: Elizabeth "Liza" Anne, Charles Wilson, and Samuel Lowery.[230] Ryan is a member ofSt. John Vianney Catholic Church in Janesville.[231]
Janna is a cousin of former Democratic RepresentativeDan Boren (D-OK).[232] She is also a granddaughter ofReuel Little, who helped found theAmerican Party to support the 1968 presidential campaign ofGeorge Wallace.[233][234] Through his marriage, Ryan is related toSupreme Court justiceKetanji Brown Jackson.[235]
Due to a family history of fatal heart attacks before age 60, Ryan is involved in an intense cross-training fitness program calledP90X.[236] He has always been a fitness enthusiast and was a personal trainer after graduating from college. Speaking of P90X he said, "It works because it's called muscle confusion. It hits your body in many different ways. Pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, lots of cardio, karate, jump training. It has results, it works. It's a good workout."[237][238]
In a 2010Politico interview he stated that he weighed 163 pounds and maintained his body fat percentage between 6% and 8%.Tony Horton, creator of P90X, who has personally trained Ryan many times, reiterated the claim saying, "He is very, very, very lean. I know what 6 to 8 percent body fat looks like, and there's no fat anywhere on the man. I'm around 9 percent and he's much leaner than I am. He's easily 6 to 8 percent body fat. You just have to eat right and exercise every day, and that’s what he does."[237][238][239]
During a 2012 radio interview, Ryan claimed he had once run amarathon in under three hours;[240] he later said he forgot his actual time and was just trying to give what he thought was a normal time.[241] His one official marathon time is recorded as slightly over four hours.[242][243]
Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service[257]There is no consensus definition of Generation X, but it comprises the post-baby boom generation, born roughly between the mid-1960s and early-1980s. As such, Ryan is the first clear-cut, indisputable member of this demographic to run on a presidential ticket.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWisconsin's 1st congressional district 1999–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Ranking Member of theHouse Budget Committee 2007–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theHouse Budget Committee 2011–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theHouse Ways and Means Committee 2015 | Succeeded by Sam Johnson Acting |
| Preceded by | Chair of theJoint Taxation Committee 2015 | |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Response to the State of the Union address 2011 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Republicannominee forVice President of the United States 2012 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | House Republican Leader 2015–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives 2015–2019 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives | Order of precedence of the United States as Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives | Succeeded byas Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives |
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| Elections |
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| International | |
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| Other | |
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