House Speaker Paul Ryan promised Monday that Republicans will produce an agenda in the next few months that they can use in tandem with the eventual Republican presidential nominee to convince voters to elect a GOP Congress and president.
“We are asking the country for a mandate election,” Ryan told Hugh Hewitt on his nightly radio program. “Here is what we will do if you give us a Republican president and a Republican Congress.”
Ryan also accused Obama of “living in his own sort of fantasy land,” and having a skewed vision of the world that has left many people feeling angry.
But Ryan, the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee, said he fears the Republican primary process will become “a circular firing squad,” which he said would make it easier for Hillary Clinton, who he believes is the presumptive nominee, to win.
As long as the Republican candidates are busy sorting out a winner, Congress will move ahead with its own agenda, he said.
Among the leading candidates are businessman Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who have criticized Congress and are running as outsiders.
Ryan said he hopes to emulate the 1980 election that saw Ronald Reagan beat incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Ryan said the GOP will “team up with our nominee and lay it out there,” for voters.
The agenda will include reforms that “rededicate the constitution and reclaim the separation of powers,” Ryan said, to prevent future presidents from the broad use of executive actions taken by President Obama that Republicans have called an abuse of power.
Ryan acknowledged voter anger, but said mainstream GOP is not to blame.
He cited President Obama’s executive actions, which he called “brazen” and “cavalier,” but said Congress cannot stop them without a Republican in the White House.
“People want to pull their hair out,” Ryan said. “I can understand that. The solution is what we are trying to do. Speak truth to power, hold people accountable, go beyond that and put out an agenda. Give people a choice they are yearning for and deserve.”
