WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (UPI) — Republicans in Congress unanimously renominated Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as speaker of the House for another two years Tuesday.
A revitalized GOP on Capitol Hill made Ryan their official choice for the leadership post, in which he’s served for a year — taking over for John Boehner October 2015.
The entire junior chamber will vote on the nomination just after the new year.
Ryan ran unopposed and was renominated by unanimous vote on Tuesday.
“Serving as speaker is a tremendous honor, and one I do not take for granted. I am running for re-election so that we can continue what we have started and make 2017 a year of action. I ask for your vote, and I ask for your support at the start of this great undertaking,” Ryan, R-Wis., wrote earlier in a letter to House Republican members. He added they have a “tremendous opportunity” to interpret President-elect Donald Trump‘s “extraordinary victory” into action.
Ryan reinforced his optimism in a press conference Tuesday, saying, “Welcome to the dawn of a new unified Republican government.
“This will be a government focused on turning President-elect [Donald] Trump’s victory into real progress for the American people. At the same time we recognize that the task ahead of us is enormous. If we are going to put our country back on the right track, we have got to be bold and we have to go big.”
Ryan’s interest in maintaining the speaker’s post and in propelling Trump’s agenda through Congress comes after a campaign in which Ryan did not endorse the president-elect until June, well after he secured the GOP nomination.
Ryan was also critical of Trump for his treatment of a Muslim Gold Star military family presented at the Democratic National Convention, and again after an Access Hollywood audiotape surfaced of Trump making vulgar comments about women from 2005.
“I talk with Donald Trump virtually every single day,” Ryan said Tuesday. “I spoke with Mike Pence this morning. We are the same page, we’re working hand in glove and we’re going to make sure that this is a very successful administration.
“But more importantly, we’re going to make sure that the voices we heard from this election from the American people are acted upon, that we actually fix these country’s problems.”
