House Speaker Paul D. Ryan adamantly denied rumors Wednesday that he was considering stepping down in the near future.
“The idea that after passing tax reform, as if it’s the only thing I care about, I’m just going to leave, get up and go — it’s ridiculous,” Mr. Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, said on CBS News.
“I really see this as sort of rank speculation among the D.C. Beltway press speculating these things,” he added. “I think that was fairly irresponsible speculation.”
Mr. Ryan said he is pleased with the passage of tax reform, which after another vote in the House due to a procedural issue is expected to head to President Trump’s desk.
“The average family of four in American, earning the median income, is going to get a $2,059 tax cut. And when more than half of Americans tell us they’re living paycheck to paycheck, that’s real relief,” Mr. Ryan said.
Tax reform has been one of Mr. Ryan’s biggest goals during in his time in Congress.
“I almost broke the thing,” he said of his excitement when banging the gavel as the bill passed.
Mr. Ryan said the House plans to tackle some form of entitlements after the first of the year, now that tax reform is nearly finished.
“It’s unfortunate that our health care bill, which passed the House passed last May, didn’t get through the Senate. But we need to revisit the issue because that’s key entitlement reform,” he said.
“We need to work on our welfare program so that we can ease the pathway and reduce the barrier from getting from welfare to work,” Mr. Ryan said.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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