Back in Congress, What Will Paul Ryan Do Next?

[DonViejo]

Nov 16, 2012 4:45 AM EST

Fresh from the ruins of Team Romney, the House Budget Committee chairman faces a tough decision—strike a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, or dig in on his signature issue: taxes.

After initially marginalizing Rep. Paul Ryan as “a policy wonk” and not the leader of the party, House Speaker John Boehner named Ryan to the GOP team negotiating with the White House on a deal to avoid falling over the fiscal cliff. As chairman of the House Budget Committee, Ryan was a major player before the election and he returns to Congress with his stature enhanced, receiving a standing round of applause on Wednesday morning from his colleagues in the House Republican caucus.


What Ryan will do with his newfound clout is uncertain. Will he uphold his conservative principles, or will he bend in order to reach a compromise that would avert the fiscal cliff? “I think he faces a real choice,” says Rep. Chris Van Hollen, ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee. “Does he want to address the fiscal cliff we face in a bipartisan way, or does he want to rally the flag for the Tea Party wing of the party?”

Ryan can either be a major ally or an obstacle in crafting a grand bargain. He could lead the anti-tax, small-government faithful against a budget settlement, or he could help sell a deal that violates everything he said on the campaign trail. “If he helps reach a compromise, he loses the one issue that he might prefer to keep alive,” says Tom Mann, co-author of It’s Even Worse Than It Looks, an indictment of the current Congress. “No easy path for him,” Mann concludes.

Reading the tea leaves as to which path he will take, Ryan backed conservative favorite Tom Price of Georgia for Republican Conference chairman over the more moderate Kathy McMorris Rodgers of Oregon. Rodgers, backed by Boehner, won. The early skirmish illustrates the ideological divide between the speaker and Ryan, and suggests bigger problems ahead. Ryan has plenty of street cred with conservatives. If he’s prepared to spend some of that in the service of GOP unity, it could pay dividends in expanding his appeal as a national figure. Either way, he will be a major barometer for his party in the months ahead as it attempts to climb out of the electoral hole it dug in this election.

more:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/16/back-in-congress-what-will-paul-ryan-do-next.html

[CrispyQ]

1. My bet? He will "rally the flag for the Tea Party wing of the party.” -nt

[sammytko]

2. same as before - nothing - government mooch

[geek tragedy]

3. Paul Ryan is the new Eric Cantor--he's already started trying to undermine Boehner. nt

[TlalocW]

4. In order to help pay off his campaign debt

He'll start offering capitol staff the opportunity to bounce a quarter off his "chiseled ass" for $1000 a pop.

TlalocW

[Tutonic]

5. Continue trafficking in BS.

n/t

[HopeHoops]

6. Probably see if he can score Larry Craig's laptop and hole up in a stall.