How Did We Get to Paul Ryan as the Likely New Speaker of the House?

By Rachel Alexander Published on October 23, 2015

All the headline grabbing difficulties to choosing a new Speaker of the House are due mostly to one thing — the emergence of the powerful House Freedom Caucus. But the caucus may also now be the solution to those difficulties. Now that a supermajority in the caucus is supporting Paul Ryan to replace John Boehner as speaker, Ryan is all but certain to get the position. Two other factions in the House are expected to endorse him Friday, the centrist Tuesday Group and the mainstream Republican Study Committee, and he is expected to be confirmed by the full House the next day. Ryan has a respectable rating of 90 from The American Conservative Union, and is well-liked by both conservatives and moderates, so he is a natural choice for speaker.

For those who thought the establishment status quo could never be defeated, it was a real shock to see Boehner announce his resignation. But when the Republicans took over the House in 2010, a powerful new conservative GOP formed, the Freedom Caucus, currently composed of 38 conservative, anti-establishment and Tea Party House Republicans. Together, they presented enough of a voting bloc that Boehner realized his effectiveness would be short lived, as the caucus began plotting to force him out.

After Boehner announced his resignation, there was another shock when Boehner’s designated establishment successor, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, announced he was withdrawing from the race. As a former majority whip, he had experience rounding up votes, and said at one point he had collected enough votes to win. But the Freedom Caucus decided to put their support behind little-known Daniel Webster from Florida instead, and McCarthy realized that even if he could get enough votes for the first vote among Republicans, he wouldn’t make it past the second vote on the House floor if the Freedom Caucus members refused to support him. He didn’t help himself by making a comment on TV at this time that seemed to imply the House Benghazi Committee had been set up for the purpose of taking Hillary Clinton out of the presidential race.

Even conservative Jason Chaffetz couldn’t capture the Freedom Caucus’s support after Boehner announced his resignation. Chaffetz has a respectable 92 rating from The American Conservative Union, but he would not agree with the Freedom Caucus on all of the procedural changes they are demanding. Procedural issues are such a serious concern for those House conservatives that they were willing to put their support behind the more moderate Daniel Webster instead, whose lifetime conservative rating is only a paltry 78. This is because without key reforms, the House faces more of the same gridlock that has stopped the Republicans from getting much done even while in control. The changes the conservatives are demanding will decentralize power away from the establishment and old guard in Congress and turn more of it over to committees and other members of Congress.

But with Webster as such a weak candidate, the clamoring increased to entice a uniter like Ryan to enter the race. After much persuasion, he finally did, and the rest should become history.

Why didn’t Ryan jump into the race earlier? Because the speaker’s job is a taxing and thankless position. The speaker is expected to spend much of his time flying around the country fundraising for the party. He (or she) gets the blame when things go wrong — even if they’ve done a great job getting things accomplished. Think of Newt Gingrich’s successful Contract With America, followed by his sudden resignation. Ryan understands this about the position.

He also understands that he may want to run for president some day and that the speaker position could take a toll on his reputation as principled conservative — all that wheeling and dealing and compromising to get bills through can make for powerful fodder for attack ads coming from opponents. Can Ryan serve as speaker then move on to president? Can he do the speaker’s job and still find time for his young family? Can he compromise on prudential matters to achieve worthy ends while never compromising on core principles? It’s a gamble he’s decided to take.

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Like the article? Share it with your friends! And use our social media pages to join or start the conversation! Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, MeWe and Gab.

Inspiration
The Scarcity Mindset
Robert Morris
More from The Stream
Connect with Us