Speaker Paul Ryan greeting President Donald J. Trump at the State of the Union. (Photo via Speaker.gov)
Paul Ryan came to Washington to blow up Washington. He was first elected to represent his Wisconsin district at 28 years old. He campaigned over his career for a federal government that should shrink dramatically, spend far less, that taxes should be low, and that the Republicans should be the party of big ideas.
This is Trahant Reports.
Ryan announced last week that he will not run for re-election. He says he will complete his term as Speaker, but even that’s not certain. He faces pressure to step down early, so another Republican can lead the party’s team into the November election.
Speaker Ryan leaves behind a legacy. He did get his tax cuts and substantial changes in the regulatory framework. But he also delivered more federal spending than ever. The deficit will hit $804 billion this year (a jump of 21 percent in a single year) and exceed $1 trillion by 2020. A new report by the Congressional Budget Office, says that a decade from now the total debt will be larger than the entire economy.
The problem for Ryan, like Speaker John Boehner before him, is that the Republican majority is nearly impossible to govern. The only way for Congress to function, to actually pass a budget, is to build a coalition that includes most Republicans, some Democrats, and work with a similar coalition in the Senate. That often means spending more money. That’s not the Congress — and the party of big ideas — that Ryan had once imagined.
President Donald J. Trump has made that process worse. He caters to the bloc in Congress that cares little about actually governing. Chaos is fine. Big ideas, not so much.
Ryan wanted to reform government. A couple of years ago he proposed a reform of the Indian Health Service by “giving choices to American Indians.” His idea was to have the government issue vouchers for Indian health, outside the system. “Not only will this give American Indians more choice in where they receive care,” the Ryan plan promised. “It will challenge Indian health facilities to provide the best care possible to American Indians.”
Of course that voucher system would have cost less. The Ryan plan also included a provision for a Native American Health Savings Account so individual tribal members could buy their own healthcare services (Never mind that healthcare is a treaty right).
Rep. Tom Cole, a Republican from Oklahoma and a Chickasaw Nation citizen, said Ryan will be missed in Congress. “He is not only the best Speaker I’ve had the opportunity to serve with, he’s also the finest person. Even Paul’s political opponents readily concede that he’s a person of absolute integrity, deep sincerity and of profound decency.”
I am Mark Trahant.
