Paul Ryan is working with Donald Trump’s transition team and preparing congressional Republicans to “hit the ground running” in January if the Republican is elected president, the speaker of the House said Wednesday.
“We’re getting every committee ready to go — I’s dotted, T’s crossed, in the queue — so we can start hitting the ground running, and we’ve been talking with the Trump campaign,” Ryan said in an appearance at the Economic Club of Washington.
Ryan said that he has also spoken with Trump about top priorities for the next Congress.
As the vice presidential nominee in 2012, Ryan gained experience working with a transition team. “We’re doing the same thing with his transition team to making sure that we come running out of the gate,” he said. He explained that priorities needed to be set and committees needed to have prepared the groundwork for legislation so that they were ready to act as soon as the president takes office.
Ryan added that he hasn’t similarly prepared for a Clinton presidency, and that he’s only spoken with the Democratic nominee two or three times in social settings, in addition to interacting with her when they were both members of Congress.
Although he is now preparing to aid Trump’s transition effort, Ryan acknowledged that he was initially hesitant to endorse the former businessman and reality TV star. But Trump assured him that he would support the House GOP agenda, he said, and they have now joined forces.
At the top of the agenda, according to Ryan, is tax reform, along with regulatory reform and entitlement reform.
