House Speaker Paul Ryan says his biggest job as the new leader of the GOP in the House is to show voters that Republicans have a vision to help American families, and have a plan for implementing that vision.
“We’ve been too timid on policy,” Ryan said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We’ve been too timid on vision. We have none.”
“We fight over tactics because we don’t have a vision. We have to have a vision and offer an alternative to this country so that they can see that if we get the chance to lead, if we get the presidency, and if we keep Congress, this is what it will look like.”
Ryan was asked by Fox News’s John Roberts whether getting things done would mean the House has to throw Senate Republicans “under the bus,” but Ryan rejected that.
“No, I don’t think we throw any Republicans under the bus,” he said. “I was not asked to dis-unify the Republican Party in the Congress, I was asked to unify. So throwing Republicans under the bus is not in my job description.”
Roberts also challenged Ryan on whether he would support legislation ensuring people have the right to time with their family, especially since Ryan insisted on spending the weekends with his family as a condition of becoming the new speaker. But Ryan rejected that linkage, and said him going home fits in with the notion of being a “citizen legislator,” and implied that lawmakers to maintain ties to their home will be better lawmakers than those who hole up in Washington, D.C.
“Because I want to continue to being the best dad and husband and speaker I can be, getting that work-life balance correct, means I should sign up for some new unfunded entitlement?” Ryan asked. “That doesn’t make any sense to me.”
