House GOP nominates Paul Ryan for Speaker

As Republicans presented a unified front, House Democrats met just down the hallway for a much more introspective meeting. Now here’s my problem: “Every member wants it autographed”, said Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., who has been tapped as congressional liaison to the transition team.

Paul Ryan, the top Republican in the U.S. Congress, says he talks to Donald Trump often, but the president-elect has tapped a little-known lawmaker from western NY to be his eyes and ears among congressional Republicans.

While some conservatives have grumbled about Ryan’s leadership and could still vote against him on the House floor in January – when he will need 218 votes (or a majority of members present or voting) to keep the speaker’s gavel – he will likely cruise to victory after his nomination Tuesday. He was facing a challenge from Rep. Roger Williams of Texas.

Republicans lost only a half-dozen seats in the House and just two in the Senate, far fewer than forecast. And given his somewhat distant relationship with Trump in the past, Ryan apparently wanted to make sure Americans know the House and President-elect will work together.

Former House Speaker John Boehner ran his leadership campaign on attacking the earmark practice and did away with it when he took over in 2011.

Commentary: Today, the House Republican Conference voted unanimously to reelect Paul Ryan Speaker of the House, as well as reelect Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and Majority Whip Steve Scalise.

“We are on the same page, ” Ryan said Tuesday, citing recent conversations with Vice President-elect Mike Pence. He believes that Republicans in Congress “overplayed their hand” by enacting the earmark ban in 2011, “so we’re trying to balance that out”. And yes, they’re still present, in some way or another, despite Donald Trump’s victory. “I hope they understand that business as usual is not going to work.”.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan stopped the measure “unilaterally” during the closed conference session.

Collins said he suggested the role to Trump the day after the November 8 elections. He has no more love for traditional GOP inhabitants like Jeb Bush and Paul Ryan than he does for left-leaning Dems like Barack Obama and Elizabeth Warren.

Some hard-right GOP lawmakers say Ryan has not been a sufficiently aggressive champion of conservative causes.

The House and its leadership must never forget that its fiscal responsibility is owed not to the incoming or any president, but to the people and the future of our country.

“We can not be timid about this: the country has voted for change, and we must deliver”, Ryan said.

Many members left the meeting wearing the Trump campaigns signature hat, demonstrating a solidarity that had been in doubt up until the Republican nominees historic surprise win over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton last week.

“The focus is really not on the speaker’s race any longer”, he said. “We are Americans first”.

“We had a family discussion and we came to the conclusion it is better to look at a holistic process reform for Article One appropriations”, Republican Study Committee Chairman Bill Flores told reporters. For one thing, and unlike the current President who nearly never dismounted from his high horse to climb the steps of Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress (even of his own Party), Trump shows no such arrogance.