Paul Ryan (politician)

Paul Ryan (2017)

signature

Paul Davis Ryan, Jr. (born January 29, 1970 in Janesville , Wisconsin ) is an American Republican Party politician and is considered one of the most influential financial and economic politicians of his party.

From 1999 to 2019 he represented Wisconsin's 1st congressional electoral district in the US House of Representatives . He was Mitt Romney's running mate and vice-presidential candidate in the 2012 presidential election as well as chairman of the House Budget Committee. From October 2015 to January 2019, Ryan was Speaker of the United States House of Representatives .

Family, education and work

Ryan was born in 1970 as the youngest child of lawyer Paul Murray Ryan (1931–1986) and his wife Elizabeth A. "Betty" (née Hutter, * 1934) in Janesville, Rock County, Wisconsin. His paternal family ancestors immigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1851 as a result of the Great Famine ; the ancestors on the mother's side come from Germany , from Bavaria. The Ryans have been based in Wisconsin for four generations.

Paul Ryan's great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan (1858-1917), founded the construction business Ryan Inc (orporated) Central in Janesville in 1884, which is now managed by relatives of Paul Ryan. His grandfather, Stanley Martin Ryan (1898–1957), was appointed United States Attorney for Western Wisconsin by then President Calvin Coolidge .

Ryan grew up with his three older siblings - one sister and two brothers - in a strictly Catholic family. His father, who died of a heart attack at age 55, was a Republican and an admirer of Ronald Reagan .

After attending Joseph A. Craig High School in Janesville, he originally wanted to study medicine - his grandfather and one of his maternal uncles were medical professionals - but soon after starting his studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio , he turned to that Economics too. Economics professor Richard Hart became his main mentor. In 1992 Ryan earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA Economy & Political Science) from Miami University .

Ryan on the Capitol balcony with his family

Ryan is Catholic and has been married to lawyer and lobbyist Janna Christine Little (born 1969 in Oklahoma) since December 2000. The couple have a daughter and two sons.

Political career

Ryan briefly served as a Marketing Consultant at Ryan Inc. Central. The construction company is run by Ryan's relatives. In 1992 he became a member of the staff of Bob Kasten , a Republican Senator from Wisconsin. After his election defeat by the Democrat Russ Feingold , he was from 1993 to 1995 a research assistant (staff assistant) and speechwriter at Empower America , a conservative think tank founded in 1993 by Jack Kemp and William Bennett . In 2004, Empower America joined forces with Citizens for a Sound Economy . The organization was now called Freedom Works and is close to the tea party movement .

In 1996 he worked as a speechwriter for Jack Kemp after Kemp was elected by Bob Dole as running mate in the presidential campaign .

He then served on the staff and legislative director of the Kansas Republican Senator Sam Brownback from 1995 to 1997 .

Congressman

Ryan (center) with President Barack Obama (2010)

When Republican Congressman Mark Neumann declined to run again in the 1st Congressional Constituency of Wisconsin in 1998 because he wanted to run for the US Senate , Ryan ran for the vacant seat in the US House of Representatives . In the primary of the Republican Party he managed to beat his party rival Brian Morello and to win in the general election against the candidate of the Democratic Party, Lydia Spottswood . In the following congressional elections, Ryan maintained his seat against various opponents of the Democratic Party. Among them were Jeffrey C. Thomas , Marge Krupp and John Heckenlively . In 2016 he was reassigned and belongs to the 115th Congress of the United States . His mandate ran until January 3, 2019.

In his first attempt to push through far-reaching changes in the United States, in 2005 he convinced President George W. Bush of his plan to partially privatize the public pension scheme Social Security . Because only funds from Social Security would have been shifted to private pension insurance, the plan would not have relieved the state budget, but on the contrary had temporarily charged two trillion dollars in conversion costs. The plan contributed to the fact that Republicans lost a majority in Congress in the 2006 congressional election; privatization was then no longer feasible. For Ryan, however, it was a breakthrough; he had become known nationwide and had received the reputation of a tough reformer in his party. In 2006, he was senior tallest member of the Republican minority faction (ranking minority member) in the influential Budget Committee (House Committee on the Budget) ; in the 112th Congress he took over the chairmanship of the committee. He was also a member of the Committee on Ways and Means . On January 26, 2011, he was given the task of delivering the Republican Party's response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address . After his election as Speaker of the House of Representatives, he had to give up his membership in all committees in accordance with the applicable regulations.

Candidate for Vice President 2012

Ryan (right) campaigning with Mitt Romney in August 2012

On August 11, 2012, Ryan was named running mate and runner-up for the 2012 election by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney . Ryan accepted the nomination at the Tampa Republican Convention in late August . On October 11, 2012, Ryan met Obama's Vice President Joe Biden in a televised debate . Romney and Ryan lost the election with 206  electoral votes versus 332 votes for Obama and Biden. Nationwide, Romney and Ryan received over five million fewer votes and lost 47.2 to 51.1 percent of the vote.

Speaker of the House of Representatives

Ryan being sworn in as speaker

On October 29, 2015, Ryan was elected to succeed the resigned speaker, John Boehner , as the new Speaker of the House of Representatives. 435 MPs were entitled to vote, 432 valid votes were cast. Ryan had 236 votes, which corresponds to 54.6% of the votes. The Democrat and former Speaker of Parliament from California, Nancy Pelosi , received 184 votes (42.6%) and the Republican Daniel Webster from Florida 9 votes (2.1%). Jim Cooper from Tennessee, John Lewis from Georgia, and former non-Congressional Secretary of State Colin Powell each received only one vote.

Paul Ryan became his party's main fundraiser in Congress. His leadership role was often troubled by the internal division of his faction ( Freedom Caucus ) and Donald Trump's erratic presidency . The implementation of a major tax reform with lower rates in autumn 2017 is regarded as a political success and implementation of a "heartfelt concern" of Ryan. Another concern of Ryan, the reform of social security, is not considered politically feasible in the medium term, so that no realistic larger projects remain open for him are.

On April 11, 2018, Ryan announced that he would not run again for Congress in the November 2018 mid-term election. He gave the reason that he wanted to spend more time with his family. The Cook Political Report commented that Ryan's decision shows that his idea of supply-side conservatism within the Republican Party has been supplanted by Trump's populism ; while about 80 percent of Republicans were in favor of Trump at the time, only 52 percent were in favor of Ryan. His decision made the seat at risk for the Republicans.

The New York Times described Ryan's withdrawal as destabilizing for the party as a whole, which should expect to lose many offices and mandates in the November 2018 elections; former Congressman Thomas M. Davis spoke of a "nightmare scenario". Ryan has spoken out in favor of Kevin McCarthy as the successor to the office of spokesman, who is currently chairman of the Republicans. McCarthy's proposal to be elected spokesman before the November election and thus to secure his position, especially against the right-wing Freedom Caucus, was rejected by Ryan in April: As the most important fundraiser in his party, he wanted to remain in office until after the election. After the Freedom Caucus failed a politically undisputed law on agriculture in May in order to obtain leverage against the planned legislation to legalize illegal immigrants, doubts arose again about Ryan's adherence to office. He then declared that a public struggle for his successor before the election would be more harmful.

Political positions

Ayn Rand Pendants

Until 2012, Ryan was a supporter of the philosopher Ayn Rand and the economists Friedrich Hayek , Ludwig von Mises and Milton Friedman . Rand († 1982) was a controversial thinker because of her extreme positions and her atheism. Some Republicans said that Ryan's devotion to Rand was overemphasized. As a congressman, Ryan did not always vote strictly libertarian, for example when approving President Obama's state rescue of General Motors and the approval of the expansion of Medicare under President Bush. Ryan said in 2005:

"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand."

"If I had to name one thinker whose influence, by and large, made me choose to go into public service, it would be Ayn Rand."

- Paul Ryan (2005)

In April 2012, he distanced himself from Rand's ideas and called the claim of being a supporter of Ayn Rand a " big city legend ":

“I reject her philosophy. It's an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to more contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview. If somebody is going to try to paste a person's view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas, who believed that man needs divine help in the pursuit of knowledge. "

“I reject their philosophy. It's an atheistic philosophy. It reduces human interactions to mere contracts and it is contrary to my worldview. If one were to try to adapt someone else's epistemology to me, then I would choose Thomas Aquinas , who believed that man needed divine help to gain knowledge. "

- Paul Ryan (April 2012)

Unsuccessful Rescue Attempts / GM Assembly Plant / Janesville

One reason for Ryan's consent to the rescue of General Motors with taxpayers' money (and thus the departure from his otherwise proclaimed principle of keeping the state out of everything as much as possible) was probably that Ryan hoped that this would also save GM's Janesville plant - back then largest employer in Janesville (his hometown and part of his congressional electoral district). Sharply increased gasoline prices, the resulting collapse in demand (for medium-duty trucks and SUVs ) and the move towards more energy-efficient car models had already prompted GM in April / May 2008 to reduce or phase out the production of medium-duty trucks in Janesville and 750 of the 2,700 there To lay off workers. In June 2008, GM announced that it would close the Janesville plant at the end of 2010 (cessation of production of SUVs).

GM's shutdown plans did not affect the Janesville facility alone; plants in Moraine , Ohio , Oshawa , Ontario / Canada and Toluca , Mexico were also to be given up. Paul Ryan served on a GM Retention Task Force set up in 2008 by then-Governor of Wisconsin Jim Doyle (Dem.), With the involvement of politicians from both federal, state and local parties and trade unionists . She tried to persuade GM's management not to shut down the Janesville plant, but to develop an alternative product line instead. These efforts were unsuccessful. In December 2008, the production of SUVs was largely stopped, and the plant was finally shut down in April 2009. Around 2,400 jobs were lost. The management of GM had decided to start the production of so-called “next generation small cars” - small, compact and above all energy-saving car models - not in Janesville, but in Orion , in neighboring Michigan (40 miles north of Detroit ).

Cuba question

In Cuba Question about dealing with the US embargo against the country joined Ryan in the past also, rather than free traders on. In 2002 he said the embargo was not working. He also believed that more trade would lead to more freedom for the Cuban people. In 2008 he asked: “We have free trade with China, why not with Cuba?” Overall, he voted against the embargo 20 out of 24 times.

The Path to Prosperity

In April 2011, he presented the Republican budget under the title The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America's Promise . In March 2012, he presented a similar draft budget called The Path to Prosperity: A Blueprint for American Renewal for 2013. The plan provides for a lowering of the top tax rate and cuts in transfer payments while increasing the military budget. State benefits for veterans, the unemployed, food stamps for the poor, etc. would be halved by 2021. There are also plans to abolish President Obama's health care reform . Public health insurance for retirees ( Medicare ) is to be abolished and replaced by co-payments for private health insurance. According to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office , this would not result in any reduction in government payments; these would remain just as high as if Medicare were to be retained in its current form. However, since the cost of private health insurance is higher and is likely to grow faster than the cost of Medicare in the future, the reform would have a significant financial impact on retirees. Health insurance costs for retirees would increase by 11% in the year of the reform, and in 2030 they would be twice as high as if Medicare were retained. With Medicaid , the public health insurance for very low-income people, the federal grants would be frozen and only adjusted in line with general inflation. From 2022, federal grants for acute care for the elderly would be discontinued. The United States Bishops' Conference declared that The Path to Prosperity violates moral criteria as poor and defenseless people would be disproportionately affected by the cuts.

President Obama's suggestion that rich US citizens, the little tax paid, should contribute to the reduction of public debt in the future more, Ryan leaned as class struggle ( "class warfare" from). Paul Krugman contradicted this in the New York Times and made this accusation to Ryan: "On the contrary, it is people like Mr. Ryan who want to exempt the very rich from carrying the burdens of our public finances who lead the class struggle."

Web links

Commons : Paul Ryan  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• Paul Ryan in Congress (English)
• Paul Ryan in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Paul Ryan in the nndb (English)
• Dossier on Paul Ryan at the FAZ

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b} Rootsweb - Ryan + Hutter family
2. ↑ GazetteXtra August 12, 2012: Pyan's family tree has many branches (interview with Tobin Ryan - older brother of Paul Ryan)
3. ^ Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Congressman Paul Ryan. Whorunsgov.com, accessed April 9, 2011 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Erik Gunn: That Hair, Those Eyes, That Plan. In: Milwaukee Magazine , July 2005.
5. ↑ Ryan Incorporated Central - History ; The Ryan Companies .
6. ↑ Ryan draws inspiration from family, mentors. In: Journal Sentinel , April 26, 2009.
7. ^ A look at Paul Ryan's hometown, high school history. In: The Los Angeles Times , August 11, 2012.
8. ^ The Intellectual Goes to Washington. Rep. Paul Ryan speaks to the Crimson. In: The Harvard Crimson , April 23, 2010.
9. ↑ Janna Ryan. In: Biography.com.
10. ^ NNDB: Paul Ryan ; Paul Ryan - 2012 GOP Vice President Candidate. In: Conservative Daily News , August 2012.
11. ↑ USNews July 23, 2008: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Paul Ryan
12. ^ NNDB: Empower America
13. ↑ Empower America - Board of Directors ( Memento April 2, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
14. ↑ Empower America - Mission ( Memento from June 22, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
15. ↑ Freedom Works - Homepage
16. ↑ Paul Ryan biography.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The Boston Globe , August 12, 2012.  
17. ^ Salon.com August 11, 2012: The woman Paul Ryan beat
18. ↑ Ryan, Paul. In: OurCampaigns.com (English).
19. ↑ Ryan Lizza: How Paul Ryan captured the GOP In: The New Yorker , August 6, 2012.
20. ↑ Romney's Runner-Up: Paul Ryan Accepts Nomination Speech at Republican Convention in Tampa. In: Welt Online , August 30, 2012.
21. ↑ Debates.org: 2012 presidential debates. ( Memento of the original from January 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
22. ↑ Julian Heissler: Why Paul Ryan is no longer “Mr. Speaker "wants to be. In: Handelsblatt , April 11, 2018.
23. ↑ Jonathan Martin, Nicholas Fandos: Speaker Paul Ryan Will Not Seek Re-election in November. In: The New York Times , April 11, 2018.
24. ↑ David Wasserman: Ryan Retirement Puts WI-01 at Risk and Throws House GOP Into Deeper Turmoil. In: Cook Political Report , April 11, 2018.
25. ↑ Jonathan Martin, Alexander Burns: Paul Ryan Upends Republican Hopes and Plans for Midterm Elections. In: The New York Times , April 11, 2018.
26. ↑ Rachael Bade, John Bresnahan: Speakership drama pits McCarthy vs. Ryan. In: Politico , April 16, 2018.
27. ↑ Scott Wong, Melanie Zanona: GOP revolts multiply against retiring Ryan. In: The Hill , May 18, 2018; Lindsey McPherson: Paul Ryan Pushes Back on Pressure for Early Exit. In: Roll Call , May 22, 2018.
28. ↑ With Paul Ryan, Romney is on radical reform course , in: Welt Online, August 12, 2012
29. ^ Paul Ryan And Ayn Rand , The New Republic, December 28, 2010
30. ↑ Connor Friedersdorf: If Paul Ryan Were an Atlas Shrugged Character, He'd Be a Villain , in: The Atlantic , August 13, 2012
31. ^ W. James Mantle III: Paul Ryan's Paradox , The American Conservative , Aug. 13, 2012
32. ↑ Rick Ungar: Ryan Now Rejects Ayn Rand-Will The Real Paul Ryan Please Come Forward? , in Forbes , April 26, 2012
33. ^ Robert Costa: Ryan Shrugged. In: National Review , April 26, 2012.
34. ^ The Business Journal June 3, 2008: GM closing Janesville assembly plant
35. ^ ^{A b c} Paul Ryan Used Government Funds and Power to Try and Save GM Plant in His District. In: The Daily Beast , August 17, 2012.
36. ↑ ^{a b} GazetteXtra October 11, 2008: GM plans to close by year's end
37. ^ GazetteXtra September 13, 2008: Local delegation meets with GM execs .
38. ^ GM confirms plans to produce small car in Michigan. In: GazetteXtra , June 26, 2009.
39. ↑ Fernando Menéndez: Paul Ryan and the Cuban Embargo , Fox News Latino, August 18, 2012
40. ↑ Paul Ryan Voto 20 veces contra el embargo a Cuba entre 2000 y 2007 (ONG) , AP in El Nuevo Herald from August 29, 2012
41. ^ Congressional Budget Office , Long-Term Analysis of a Budget Proposal by Chairman Ryan (PDF file; 234 kB), page 11
42. ^ Congressional Budget Office , Long-Term Analysis of a Budget Proposal by Chairman Ryan (PDF file; 234 kB), page 8
43. ^ Congressional Budget Office , Long-Term Analysis of a Budget Proposal by Chairman Ryan (PDF file; 234 kB), pp. 21, 23.
44. ^ Congressional Budget Office , Long-Term Analysis of a Budget Proposal by Chairman Ryan (PDF file; 234 kB), page 9.
45. ↑ Sebastian Fischer, Sandra Sperber: The talented Mr. Ryan. In: Spiegel Online , August 12, 2012.
46. ^ Paul Krugman: The Social Contract. In: The New York Times , September 22, 2011.