On Thursday, the House of Representatives elected Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) as the 54th Speaker to replace retiring Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). During his swearing-in ceremony, Speaker Ryan stated, “Let’s be frank: The House is broken. We are not solving problems. We are adding to them. And I am not interested in laying blame. We are not settling scores. We are wiping the slate clean. Neither the members nor the people are satisfied with how things are going. We need to make some changes, starting with how the House does business.” He laid out a return to regular order by “letting the committees retake the lead in drafting all major legislation” and including more minority party views.
Following his elevation to the highest ranking member of the House, Ryan resigned as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. The Republican Steering Committee has not yet determined when the vote for Ways and Means Committee chair will take place. Reps. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio) and Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) have all been campaigning for committee chair. In the interim, Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson (R-Texas) will serve as the acting chair.
During this time of leadership transition, the Republican members will convene to discuss some changes to their official rules, including a plan to diversify the makeup of the powerful Steering Committee (which selects leadership offices and chairmen of committees). A window for the changes has yet to be determined, but the changes are likely to effective before the end of the year.
For more information, please contact Brian Lenihan at lenihanb@agc.org or (202) 547-4733.