House Speaker Paul Ryan said Sunday that he plans to offer a congressional agenda this year that defines the Republican Party ahead of the 2016 general election.
Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Ryan said the party should offer affirmative plans before the GOP presidential nominee dictates the party’s identity.
Ryan said a legislative agenda can help define the party before proposals that the GOP nominee, potentially billionaire Donald Trump, might put forward.
Ryan and other GOP insiders are worried Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, could damage the GOP brand as nominee by offering proposals that alienate immigrants or other groups. The speaker said he would support either candidate if they win the GOP nomination.
In the fall, the nominee “will be the face” of the party Ryan said. “But we don’t have time to wait until the fall.”
“I learned this in 2012 with Mitt Romney,” said Ryan, who was Romney’s vice presidential nominee. “If you wait until late summer, end of summer to then roll out what you believe and what your agenda is, I think it’s too late. So, that’s why we’re going to go early.”
“We want to show that we have better ideas for getting people out of poverty, for going at root causes of poverty, for getting opportunity restored in America,” Ryan said.
The Wisconsin Republican is known for a proposal to partly privatize Medicare by replacing it with a voucher system. Democrats have aggresively attacked the plan in repeated elections.
Ryan distanced himself from Trump during the interview. The Republican front-runner opposes Ryan on issues including a free trade deal with Asian countries, last year’s federal spending agreement, immigration and entitlements.
“We’re a big tent party,” Ryan said. “I think what we do as leaders is, we say who we are, what we believe, and where we want to lead, and let the people decide.”
