In the year 2019 we will see a major shakeup in the Congress that will change everything. A top Republican believed to be one of the biggest RINOs in congress. The news leaked out from the usually tight circle this member of Congress surrounds himself with. Although there has been no official announcement, Paul Ryan is stepping down as Speaker at the end of this term and in all likelihood from the House altogether. Ryan had told Boehner that the Speaker’s job would be his last in politics and that it would not be a long term job at that.
Despite several landmark legislative wins this year, and a better-than-expected relationship with President Donald Trump, Ryan has made it known to some of his closest confidants that this will be his final term as speaker. He consults a small crew of family, friends and staff for career advice, and is always cautious not to telegraph his political maneuvers.
But the expectation of his impending departure has escaped the hushed confines of Ryan’s inner circle and permeated the upper-most echelons of the GOP. In recent interviews with three dozen people who know the speaker—fellow lawmakers, congressional and administration aides, conservative intellectuals and Republican lobbyists—not a single person believed Ryan will stay in Congress past 2018.
Ryan is probably also upset that he was able to get many of the Trump agenda items through the House that either don’t come up for a vote in the Senate or is voted down. He has just had a major victory on the tax reform bill and he says that in 2018 he wants to reform Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Ryan’s father died when he was just 55 and it has been known that Ryan wants to live at home before his own children start leaving home for college. As they are just reaching their teens, now is when he would need to make that move. Next year in 2018, Ryan will face some of the biggest challenges of his career. He needs to pass a budget, raise the debt ceiling, deal with DACA amnesty, modify spending caps and address the continuation of health care subsidies, shell out additional funds for disaster relief .
This will create the opportunity for the House to pick a leader with conservative values. Let’s hope they don’t settle for Kevin McCarthy.
