“Speaker Paul Ryan last week urged the White House to reconsider ousting Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, his longtime friend who had come under fire for often using a taxpayer-funded private jet for travel,” Politico reports.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“He’s learning. I know his heart’s in the right place.”
— Speaker Paul Ryan, quoted by The Hill, on President Trump and racial issues.
Ryan Blames the Senate for Stalled Agenda
Speaker Paul Ryan “said it was ‘extremely frustrating’ that the Republican majority in the Senate had been unable to push through pieces of the GOP agenda that have passed in the House,” Politico reports.
“Equipped with graphs highlighting the disparity between the number of bills passed by the House and the number that have stalled in the Senate, Ryan (R-WI) aired his grievances during an interview on Fox News. He cited the upper chamber’s inability to convert on the Republican Party’s major goals thus far during the Trump administration.”
Ryan May Emerge Stronger After Sparring with Trump
“Paul Ryan rode to power two years ago like a hero on a white horse, a reluctant candidate for House speaker elected to heal wounds left by his predecessor, who could not tame the incessant infighting between hard-line conservatives and establishment Republicans,” the New York Times reports.
“In one of his first real tests, Mr. Ryan discovered last week that those old wounds can reopen fast. But in President Trump, his mercurial partner in the White House, the speaker deftly found a foil to deflect some of the anger that had felled the man he succeeded, John Boehner.”
“President Trump’s fiscal deal with Democratic leaders in Congress — which passed the House with more than a third of Republicans voting against it — infuriated House conservatives, who struck first at Mr. Ryan, but ultimately turned their ire on the Trump White House. By week’s end, the men feeling the lash were Mr. Trump’s Treasury secretary and budget director. If anything, Mr. Ryan may have emerged stronger.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“The House has been more productive than any Congress in the modern era.”
— Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), in an interview with Fox News.
Trump Dines with Ryan Tonight
Playbook: “Trump is dining with Speaker Paul Ryan tonight, just a day after the president tossed Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, House and Senate Republicans under the bus.”
Quote of the Day
“I believe it’s going to be far easier for us to do tax reform than it was for, say, health care reform.”
— Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), in a CNN town hall meeting.
Ryan Gives Big Fundraising Boost to Republicans
Speaker Paul Ryan “continued building a campaign war chest for House Republicans ahead a possibly treacherous midterm election, transferring another $1.5 million to the NRCC in July,” the Washington Examiner reports.
“The transfer brought the total the Wisconsin Republican has raised for the NRCC to more than $27 million through July 31, and represented an increase of nearly $500,000 over what he gave to the House GOP campaign arm in July of last year. Of the $60 million the NRCC raised through June 30, Ryan was responsible for more than half — $33 million (the committee ended the first six months of the year with $33.7 million in the bank).”
Ryan Opposes Trump’s Immigration Plan
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) “cautioned he has yet to fully review the proposal and said he does want to overhaul the immigration system to focus on economic needs like dairy farms and research and engineering work. But he questioned the wisdom of actually cutting the number of immigrants entering the United States,” the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports.
Said Ryan: “I just think arbitrary cuts to legal immigration don’t take into effect the economy’s needs as the boomers are retiring. With baby boomers leaving the workforce, we’re still going to have labor shortages in certain areas and that is where a well-reformed legal immigration system should be able to make up the difference.”
Ryan Claims Only the House Works
Speaker Paul Ryan, “who spent weeks urging his members to hold their fire and give Senate Republicans some space to get a health care deal, didn’t hide his frustration at a closed-door meeting in the Capitol basement on Friday. He effectively threw the Senate under the bus, telling his colleagues that the House of Representatives was the only arm of the government that was working,” CNN reports.
Yelled Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL): “Low bar, low bar!”
One House GOP member in the meeting summarized Ryan’s remarks as “essentially, we are the functioning chamber. We did our work. This one is on them.”
Ryan’s Approval Takes a Thumping
A new Bloomberg poll finds more people now view Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) in a negative light rather than a positive one, 48% to 34%.
Just six months ago, only 31% held a negative view of Ryan, while 47% looked at him favorably.
“It’s a dramatic turn for one of the Republican Party’s biggest stars and its 2012 vice presidential nominee. The approval rating decline for Ryan is the largest among GOP leaders measured by the Bloomberg survey — and exceeds the drop in approval for the party, Congress and Trump.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“A limp-dick motherfucker who was born in a petri dish at the Heritage Foundation.”
— White House adviser Stephen Bannon, quoted by HuffPost, describing Speaker Paul Ryan in the new book, Devil’s Bargain by Joshua Green.
Ryan Says He’s Done with Town Hall Events
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) told CBS News that he will no longer hold public town halls.
Said Ryan: “I don’t want to have a situation where we just have a screaming fest, a shouting fest, where people are being bused in from out of the district to get on TV because they’re yelling at somebody.”
Instead, Ryan said he would use “new and creative” methods of having a civil dialogue with constituents.
Ryan Insists GOP Agenda Is On Track
Playbook: “Speaker Paul Ryan spent the weekend at the Homestead in Virginia for his annual ‘Team Ryan’ summer outing. His message to K Streeters and donors: the Republican agenda is on track. The Wisconsin Republican laid out his preferred timeline for Obamacare repeal bill, saying that it will be done by mid-summer and tax reform will be completed by the end of the year. Ryan said that he expected the Senate to pass their health care bill before the July 4 recess and that would give House Republicans the rest of July to take action.”
“Ryan said he has been talking to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell daily. Ryan also was bullish on infrastructure, telling the group that a series of infrastructure bills will be passed by the end of the year.”
Flashback Quote of the Day
“I don’t think we should pass bills that we haven’t read that we don’t know what they cost.”
— Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), interviewed on MSNBC in 2009.
Quote of the Day
“We’ll vote on it when we get the votes.”
— Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), quoted by the New York Times, refusing to commit to a vote on the revised GOP health care plan.
Ryan’s Clout In Doubt After Health Care Failure
Bloomberg: “The abrupt death of the repeal effort, its short-lived rebirth and then a pause for a two-week recess has left Republicans adrift — unclear where their long-promised repeal effort stands, whether Ryan will reassert himself in the House and what President Donald Trump will demand of them next.”
“The challenge for Ryan as part of a unified Republican government is how to handle an administration that has a bold but vague agenda and narrow legislative experience. Unrealistic White House demands risk derailing the year’s legislative agenda and undermining Ryan’s leadership in the House.”
“But it’s hard to say no to the president of your own party. And if Ryan pushes back too much, he risks getting cut out of the process.”
White House Puts Blame on Ryan
Politico: “A Wednesday evening meeting between top aides to President Trump and House Republican leaders turned heated when the White House officials exhorted Speaker Paul Ryan to show immediate progress on the GOP’s stalled plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.”
“The meeting was tense. At one point, according to three sources briefed on the meeting, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus suggested it could be detrimental to Ryan’s speakership if Republicans fail to pass a bill. Others disputed that characterization, saying the comments were not aimed specifically at Ryan but more broadly, as in: All Republican lawmakers’ jobs are in jeopardy if they don’t deliver.”
Said one person familiar with the meeting: “It was really bad. They were in total meltdown, total chaos mode.”
Jonathan Chait: Republicans are tearing each other to pieces over Trumpcare debacle.
For members: Why the White House Is a Dumpster Fire
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