US Republicans on Thursday rallied behind US Representative Paul Ryan to elect him to the powerful post of US House of Representatives speaker as the splintered party turned to the youthful, but battle-tested lawmaker to mend its self-inflicted wounds and craft a conservative message to woo voters in next year’s elections.
Ryan — a former Republican vice presidential candidate — became the 54th speaker of the House with 236 Republicans calling out Ryan in a roll call vote, putting him second in line to the presidency and atop a chamber that has been awash in tumult ever since defiant conservatives hounded US Representative John Boehner into announcing his resignation as House speaker last month.
Just nine hard-line conservatives voted against Ryan, instead backing a little-known Florida lawmaker. Most of them, including members of the rebellious House Freedom Caucus, backed Ryan, though it was clear that future tensions between them and Ryan could not be discounted.
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“The House is broken,” Ryan said in his first remarks to the chamber, seemingly referring as much to a Republican civil war between hard-liners and pragmatists as to the House’s usual partisan divisions. “We are not settling scores. We are wiping the slate clean.”
Conservatives complain that Boehner has been excessively powerful, forcing bills to the House floor without rank-and-filed input, dictating committee chairs and punishing rebels. One leader of the right-wing Freedom Caucus, US Representative Raul Labrador, said conservatives expect Ryan to alter that.
“We’re going to have his back for the next few months and make sure that we give him the opportunity to show that he can be the leader that we hope he can be,” Labrador said.
Amiable and just 45, Ryan has been in Congress 17 years and has strong ties with all wings of the Republican Party.
As the former chairman of the House Budget Committee and current head of the Ways and Means panel, he has put his imprint on deficit reduction, tax, health and trade legislation — prime subjects that have raised his stature and put him at the center of many of Congress’ highest profile debates.
Many Democrats like Ryan, but none hesitate to attack him as a symbol of Republican policies they consider harsh.
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