Thread: Paul Ryan Expected to Keep His Speakership

Paul Ryan Expected to Keep His Speakership

Donald Trump’s victory bolsters the Wisconsin lawmaker’s job security

ENLARGE
House Speaker Paul Ryan speaks during a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at the Capitol last week. PHOTO: ZACH GIBSON/GETTY IMAGES


By KRISTINA PETERSON
Nov. 13, 2016 3:45 p.m. ET8 COMMENTS

WASHINGTON—Just a week ago, House Speaker Paul Ryan’s standing looked a little dicey. But Donald Trump’s unexpected presidential victory has bolstered the Wisconsin Republican’s job security, despite tensions between the two during the campaign.

House Republicans are expected to choose Mr. Ryan as their nominee to be speaker this week when lawmakers return to Washington for the first time since late September. Other congressional leaders are also likely to keep their posts, with Sen.Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) expected to replace retiring Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.).

Grumblings over Mr. Ryan’s tangles with Mr. Trump over the past few months have receded since the New York businessman became the president-elect in an election that also kept both chambers of Congress under GOP control.

Although some of the most vocal Republicans are still likely to oppose Mr. Ryan for the top job, he is expected to coast to victory in Tuesday’s GOP vote, according to a wide range of lawmakers, including some newly elected.

“The outcome is the same, but the drama is dramatically lessened,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, House Republicans’ chief deputy whip.

Mr. Ryan will still face a vote of the full House in early January, where he will need a majority of those voting for an individual to win re-election to his post. In this week’s balloting, he would need a majority of only re-elected and new Republicans to be nominated for the job.

Had the Republican nominee lost, ire aimed at Mr. Ryan could have fueled rebellion among Trump supporters in the House. Mr. Ryan said he would no longer defend Mr. Trump in early October after a 2005 video surfaced in which the New Yorker talked in crude sexual terms about grabbing women without their consent. Mr. Trump, in turn, called Mr. Ryan a “very weak and ineffective leader.”

But Mr. Trump’s win leaves Mr. Ryan positioned to help Mr. Trump implement the House GOP policy agenda he has promoted relentlessly. Last week, the speaker gave the president-elect a tour of the Capitol, presenting a unified front with Mr. Trump.

“The Democrats are the ones in turmoil,” Mr. Ryan said last week on Fox News. “The Republicans are the ones who are unified, and we’re excited about working with our president-elect with a good transition so we hit the ground running.”

On the Democratic side, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California is expected to run again for the top Democratic post in leadership elections set for Thursday. Mrs. Pelosi typically doesn’t announce her plans to run ahead of time, and despite Democratic dejection following the loss of the presidency, there aren’t any signs of a significant challenger.

Still, to bolster Mrs. Pelosi’s position, Rep. Doris Matsui (D., Calif.) has begun gathering signatures from Democratic women asking Mrs. Pelosi to run again for the post. So far, 40 women have signed on, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the matter.

Across the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) is expected to remain in his post, and Senate Democrats are poised to select Mr. Schumer as their leader.

It is unclear who will be the second-ranking Senate Democrat. Democratic whip Dick Durbin of Illinois is running to remain in his post, but Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, currently the No. 4 Senate Democrat, is also considered a contender for the job.

“Durbin would be honored to continue to serve the caucus as whip,” his spokesman Ben Marter said Friday. Ms. Murray “is having conversations with Sen. Schumer and others about what the Democratic leadership team should look like and where she can best contribute from,” said her spokesman, Eli Zupnick.

Newly elected lawmakers this week will descend upon Washington for their first of two weeks of new-member orientation, which includes briefings and a “class photo.”

Congress is scheduled to be in session for two weeks this month and two weeks in December, with only a few legislative tasks remaining before the next crop of lawmakers are sworn in. Their most pressing deadline will be to keep the government running after current funding expires Dec. 9.

Mr. Trump’s victory gives Republicans an incentive to push off any major spending deals until he is in office, rather than negotiate with Democratic President Barack Obama. In order to prevent a partial government shutdown, they may end up passing an extension of the government’s current funding levels into early 2017.

The House this week is also expected to pass two foreign-policy bills with broad, bipartisan support. One measure from House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R., Calif.) would reauthorize for a decade sanctions on Iran set to expire at year’s end.

A senior administration official said the White House has the tools it needs to implement the nuclear deal with Iran and respond to other potential violations without reauthorizing the sanctions. But lawmakers have said they are needed to respond to any human-rights abuses or ballistic missile tests and aren’t meant to undermine the nuclear deal.

Separately, House lawmakers are expected to pass legislation from Rep. Eliot Engel (D., N.Y.) that would establish new sanctions against supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The U.S. currently has longstanding sanctions that prohibit Americans from conducting financial or commercial dealings with Syria, but the bill would make the sanctions mandatory and levy them across entire sectors rather than against individuals, making them harder to evade. Under the bill, the president would have the ability to waive sanctions on a case-by-case basis.

The White House also is expected to oppose the Syria sanctions. It has said multilateral sanctions are more effective than unilateral ones from the U.S.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/paul-rya...hip-1479069914

PAUL RYAN'S GOTTA GO!!

Just saw a great interview of Kevin McCarthy on Fox News Sunday. He is so superior to Paul Ryan. Don't know if he's the person to replace Ryan, but as I recall he was planned to be the new Speaker until some lie came out about him and Elmers. STOP FALLING FOR LIES. If I'm right and McCarthy was expected to move up to Speaker from Majority Leader, then Republicans need to make that happen immediately. RYAN is NOT THE PERSON at all in any way, shape, form or policy to lead the US House of Representatives in the hard fights ahead to fix our country. Ryan is not pro-Trump or pro-America. Ryan is the opposite. Ryan whines for illegal aliens instead of unemployed Americans. Ryan wants to cut Social Security benefits for retired workers instead of stop free trade treason sucking all our good jobs out of the country. Ryan is pro-TPP, one of the worst trade deals proposed in US history since NAFTA. Ryan pretends to be a "policy wonk", when he's a useless missionary. Ryan doesn't have it, can't and won't cut it, and everything we want to do to fix our country is jeopardized by the presence of Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House.

Now get him out of there and replace him with someone who can and wants to do the job. Kevin McCarthy remains an excellent candidate for Speaker seems to me.

Paul Ryan needs to go because the American public clearly demanded a new direction in Washington DC and Paul Ryan represents the failed DC establishment we want to reject!

W

Speaker Ryan keeping his seat will be a 'fail' for all of us who elected Trump.