Over the past few weeks, Capitol Hill buzz has been filled with the continuing hullabaloo over who will take over the Speaker's throne in the wake of Boehner's departure. After ample persuading by colleagues from both parties, a very reluctant Paul Ryan (R-WI) has agreed to run for the Speakership. The House Republicans voted today to install Ryan as the new Speaker (over fellow candidate Daniel Webster of Florida) in a 200-43 vote (Herszenhorn 2015), thus indicating broad support for Ryan within the party. The next step is a full vote on the House floor, which Ryan is expected to easily pass, seeing as many Democrats have come out in support of him taking over for Boehner. This is likely due to Ryan's relatively moderate positions in the past and his willingness to work across party lines when necessary. For example, GovTrack notes that his ideology score falls to the left of the bulk of House Republicans; what's more interesting, however, is that they also report Ryan's leadership score as falling below that of many of his fellow GOP lawmakers (GovTrack). So while he seems like the type of person who can reach deals across party lines, his lack of experience compared to his peers could be detrimental to his tenure as Speaker. Or, conversely, it could be a breath of fresh air.
Ryan, at age 45, will be the youngest Speaker of the House in over a century (Steinhauer & Hulse 2015). The four most recent speakers were all at least in their 50s and 60s at the time of their election as Speaker, with Gingrich at 51, Hastert at 56, Pelosi at 64, and Boehner at 61. Moreover, Ryan will also be one of the only Speakers in U.S. history to ascend to the Speakership without any experience in senior leadership within the House (Ibid). This lack of leadership experience within the chamber and party as a whole may to some degree hinder Ryan's ability as Speaker, but it's also important to not discount his achievements. Ryan is currently serving in his eighth term in the House and is Chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, which gives him considerable knowledge of taxation and fiscal policy. Nearly half of Ryan's proposed bills have dealt with "economics and public finance" (GovTrack), which makes him an asset in terms of fostering deals on economic policy. He also gained political experience as the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee, running with Mitt Romney, in the 2012 election.
Despite these qualifications that may compensate for his lack of leadership, Ryan's ability to fundraise has been called into question, given that Pelosi and Boehner have been incredibly successful fundraisers. Ryan has expressed some hesitation to commit as fervently to fundraising as his predecessors, which would mean that other House Republicans would need to step up their fundraising game to make up for the loss of Boehner, who spent many Congressional recesses traveling the nation to raise funds for the party (Steinhauer & Hulse 2015). Ryan stated in an interview following the GOP meeting this morning that he will not give up his current weekend routine of going home to Wisconsin to spend time with his wife and children. Instead, he plans on seeking assistance from other GOP leaders in the House to fundraise and deal with other party issues (Herszenhorn 2015). This is quite a departure from the ways of Speakers past, but perhaps this spreading of responsibility will help take some pressure off of Ryan, who, after all, never really wanted the job.
Ryan's change in style from Boehner also brings up an important aspect of the changeover that will be interesting to watch in the coming months: how Ryan adds his own touch to the Speakership (that is, how he changes the way House functions, both among leadership and the chamber more generally). In addition to his pledge to keep his weekends free for time with family and his district, Ryan made another announcement this morning: "We are not going to have a House that looked like it did the last few yeras. We are going to unify. We are going to respect the people by representing the people." These are some mighty big goals, especially given how hostilely divided the House GOP has been recently. Considering that Boehner resigned after facing pressure from the hyper-conservative House Freedom Caucus, unifying the party may be an uphill battle for Ryan. However, a majority of the HFC had pleged to vote for Ryan (Herszenhorn 2015), so perhaps he will be more successful than Boehner at bridging the gap within his party.
Assuming that he wins the vote on the House floor (all he needs is 218 votes, 200 of which are already guaranteed by his own party), Ryan will be the new Speaker. This will bring with it not only changes to the leadership, but it could also potentially reshape the workings of the House more broadly. It's a great time to be studying Congress, as Ryan will likely be in the spotlight of political news as we watch how he proceeds as Speaker. What a time to be alive!
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/29/us/politics/republicans-paul-ryan-house-speaker.html?ref=politics&_r=0
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/paul_ryan/400351
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/29/us/politics/house-speaker-job-requires-many-hats-paul-ryan-has-never-worn.html?ref=politics
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