Ryan: No hopes to be House Speaker
1/24/2014SAN ANTONIO — Rep. Paul Ryan won’t say if he’ll run for president in 2016 but there’s one job he’s sure he doesn’t want: speaker of the House of Representatives.
The 2012 Republican nominee for vice president told an audience in San Antonio on Thursday that running the House would take away too much time from his wife and three young children. Ryan said he would be spending more time with his family if he were vice president than he does as a House member shuttling back and forth between Washington and his home in Janesville, Wis.
“I could’ve decided to go in the elected leadership route years ago. I’m more of a policy person. I prefer spending my days on policy and my weekends at home with my family,” Ryan said. “The speaker is expected to fly all over the country on weekends as well, helping folks. I’m not going to do that.”
For now, Ryan is chairman of the Budget Committee. But it’s widely believed that he’s got his eye on the Ways and Means Committee chairmanship. Current Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., is leaving next year because of GOP rules limiting most chairmen to three terms.
When asked, Ryan said it’s “too early to get into” whether he wants to chair Ways and Means and said he “loves” Rep. Kevin Brady, the Texas Republican whom he would have to leapfrog to lead that power committee. It has sweeping jurisdiction over taxes, trade and health care policy.