“Given the steady destruction of the Republican brand by Donald Trump, and the imperilment of House Republicans, one might be distracted from Paul Ryan’s repeated failures in his short tenure as Speaker,” said Meredith Kelly of the DCCC. “With the Republican Party in full panic mode about Trump’s march to 1,237, House Republicans won’t be able to count on their record in the Paul Ryan Congress to provide refuge.”
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Politico: Paul Ryan’s House of woes
by John Bresnahan
April 20, 2016
Paul Ryan has had a tough couple of months.
With all the attention showered on Ryan’s non-interest in running for president, it’s easy to overlook the new speaker’s troubles running the House these days.
Almost six months into the job, Ryan and his top lieutenants face questions about whether the Wisconsin Republican’s tenure atop the House is any more effective that his predecessor, former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). Ryan has flattered the House Freedom Caucus and pursued promises to empower rank-and-file Republicans with reforms to how the House operates — yet it’s yielded little in the way of actual results.
Democrats are openly mocking their GOP counterparts, and Republicans grumble — in private so far — that nothing is getting done under Ryan.
The rise of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump — which has shocked GOP leaders on Capitol Hill as much as it has Republican heavyweights nationwide — has also injected more uncertainty into the legislative process. With the party base so unsettled, rank-and-file GOP members don’t want to do anything that could alienate pro-Trump voters back home. “Don’t piss anyone off” has become the unofficial mantra for Republicans, which has led to paralysis.
But there are complaints that Ryan has worked so hard to accommodate disaffected conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus and elsewhere — the same crew that took out Boehner and blocked Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from moving up to speaker — that he risks coming up empty-handed. With the House majority in jeopardy this year, as Ryan has admitted in his own fundraising appeals, some Republicans want a stronger hand atop the chamber…
But it’s all been overshadowed by the failure to make headway on the GOP’s larger agenda.
A House bill to address the Puerto Rico crisis is bogged down in committee after some Republicans cried “bailout,” despite Ryan’s insistence the measure is no such thing….
A continuing resolution to keep the federal government open past Sept. 30 was likely in any case. But the holdup on spending bills — and a seven-week recess the House is set to take in July and August — means a continuing resolution to fund agencies is all but certain at this point…
Indeed, 2016, which always figured to be light on legislative accomplishments, is proving to be a virtual wasteland on the House side.