PHILADELPHIA — Paul Ryan said Monday that reforms to entitlement spending and immigration were the biggest “unfinished business” of his speakership.
“Those are the two big things that have to be dealt with,” Ryan said in a rare public address at an electric utility industry conference hosted by the Edison Electric Institute. “Our politics are not letting us solve those problems. Our politics are vicious right now.”
Ryan was outlining his preferred agenda after he was asked by Edison Electric Institute President Thomas Kuhn whether he would run for president in the future. The former House speaker from Wisconsin did not answer the question directly, instead discussing Republicans’ “unfinished business.”
“One thing I regret the most is we did not get a debt reduction plan in place,” Ryan said. “If you don’t get these entitlements under control, we will have a debt crisis in this country. Immigration has been plagued by politics. If we solve the immigration problem, which is totally solvable, and our debt problem, which is totally solvable, we are going to be great.”
Ryan also warned that “our democracy is facing a stress test,” citing moves by “illiberal countries” such as China and Russia to undermine international cooperation.
Ryan led the Ways and Means and Budget Committees before being recruited by Republicans to run for speaker in 2015, replacing John Boehner. He retired in January, citing his interest in spending more time with family.
Reflecting on his tenure as speaker, Ryan said he’s proud Republicans passed his tax cut plan but said he’s disappointed other achievements have not been recognized, such as water infrastructure improvements, criminal justice reform, and air traffic control modernization.
“We had a remarkable record of success,” Ryan said. “More people know about the tweets of Donald Trump. The ‘Twittersphere’ is really what captured the attention of the public.”
Ryan was mostly deferential to Trump, however, noting the president is a “mile-a-minute” person who is “always thinking, always moving” and didn’t always appreciate the methodical nature of Congress.
“He came in thinking this should work like a business,” Ryan said. “It doesn’t.”
In a brief mention of energy policy toward the end of the conversation, Ryan emphasized the importance of nuclear power in decarbonizing the power sector, while also touting U.S. emissions reductions due to the switch from coal to natural gas.
“The carbon footprint is clearly dropping far better than anyone else in the Paris [Agreement],” Ryan said. “Gas is a great bridge. Coal is cleaner.”
“We should never give up on nuclear,” Ryan added. “We need to keep investing in the research of nuclear.”
