Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., may have won enough support to become the next House speaker, but he still has a long road ahead of him, the Washington Post editorial board warned this week.
Now he actually has to lead.
“We wish him luck,” the board wrote. “Yet he faces several grave challenges, some self-imposed. Top among them is that Mr. Ryan promised hard-right members of Congress that he would respect the informal ‘Hastert Rule,’ which requires that a majority of the majority party in the House favor a bill for it to get a floor vote.”
“Adherence to the rule unwisely blocks important policies that would win a majority of House members if they came to an up-or-down vote, restricting the House’s ability to work on behalf of a majority of Americans,” it added.
The board also said Ryan and the rest of the House leadership appears to be comfortable with the idea of punting on all major issues, including immigration reform, until the next president is sworn into office in January 2017.
“That leaves Mr. Ryan — and the country — with a clipped agenda over the next two years. He may waste more of the people’s time attempting to repeal Obamacare,” it warned. “But he might also push to reform corporate taxes and federal anti-poverty programs. He has already devoted considerable energy to these matters, which could produce useful results.”
Then again, with the existence of the “hard right” and its “considerable sway” in the House, it’s likely that Congress does nothing at all, it said.
Further, whether the next president is a Democrat or a Republican, Ryan will need to be able to work across the aisle to secure necessary votes to get legislation passed.
“Mr. Ryan attempted to seek the speaker’s gavel on his own terms, informing the GOP caucus that he would not take the job unless the right wing put down one of its weapons, a procedure to remove the speaker by majority vote,” they wrote.
“Yet that alone will not solve the House’s dysfunction. At some point during his speakership, it is likely that Mr. Ryan will have to choose between failing the country or violating one of the pledges he made to conservatives. When that happens, we hope and trust that he will make the right choice,” they warned.
Ryan officially succeeded outgoing Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, Thursday afternoon, winning by 236 votes to the 184 collected by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
“We need to let every member contribute — not once they have earned their stripes but right now,” Ryan said after receiving the gavel from Pelosi. “Open up the process. Let people participate. And they might change their tune. A neglected minority will gum up the works. A respected minority will work in good faith.”
