House Speaker Paul Ryan defended but distanced himself from the $1.1 trillion spending bill Congress just passed to the dismay of many conservatives.
“This is divided government, and in divided government you don’t get everything you want,” Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, said in a taped interview for NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Ryan put responsibility for the agreement on his predecessor, former Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Ryan said the bill was largely negotiated when he became speaker seven weeks ago.
“I walked into the speakership seven weeks ago with this process already in place, with this cake already baked,” he told host Chuck Todd.
The bill raises domestic spending, as President Obama demanded, along with defense spending. It funds Planned Parenthood and the Affordable Care Act. It does not place restrictions many Republicans urged on admittance of Syrian refugees to the United States.
Ryan argued an end to an oil export ban and restrictions on the IRS in the bill represent Republican victories.
He said passing the measure puts the GOP in position to contrast themselves with Democrats headed into the 2016 elections.
Republicans’ agenda next year will present “a very clear choice in 2016,” Ryan said.
Ryan has criticized Donald Trump’s call to ban Muslims from entering the United States, but sidestepped a chance to further fault the big-talking billionaire Sunday.
“There is room in this tent for a lot of people,” Ryan said when pressed on his differences with Trump. “It is a majority party. This nomination process is going to be healthy. I trust the primary voter to pick a nominee that can take us all the way to win the White House.
Ryan, who initially rebuffed entreaties to run for House Speaker, said he is enjoying the job “more than I thought I would.” But he declined to say if he will seek to keep the job in 2017.
“I just haven’t been thinking about it,” he said.
