"If something changes down the road in the future, I'll address that down the road in the future," House Speaker Paul Ryan said. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Ryan calls reports that he'll retire 'rank speculation'

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday that he has not discussed the prospect of stepping away from Congress anytime soon with anybody, nor has the thought even crossed his mind, calling reports that he might resign next year “rank speculation.”

POLITICO Magazine reported earlier this month that Ryan (R-Wis.) has privately told confidants that he will not seek another term as speaker and expressed a preference for retiring shortly after next year’s midterm elections, before the next Congress is sworn in. Ryan disputed that reporting and told “CBS This Morning” that he “actually never did” discuss plans to leave after passing tax reform with anybody.


“That's what surprises me about this. That's why I thought it was a very irresponsible piece. The idea that after passing tax reform, as if it’s the only thing I care about, I'm just going to leave, get up and go, it's ridiculous,” Ryan said. “It’s a thought that never entered my mind, let alone discussed it with anybody. So I really see this as sort rank speculation among the D.C. beltway press, speculating these things. I think it was fairly irresponsible speculation. It's faulty speculation.”

The initial report did not say Ryan would leave after Congress completed tax reform.

With a massive tax reform package, policy Ryan has pursued for nearly his entire political career, on the verge of passing Congress, a late 2018 retirement would afford the speaker another year to pursue entitlement reform, another long-term legislative priority of his. It would also allow him to live full time at home in Wisconsin with his school-age children and, people close to the speaker emphasized to POLITICO Magazine, avoid appearing on a ballot with President Donald Trump in 2020.

But while Ryan was insistent that he has no plans to retire from Congress, he did not commit to serving beyond 2018 and told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that he has not yet decided whether or not he will seek reelection in his southeast Wisconsin district in next year’s midterms.

“Yeah look, I'm not going anywhere any time soon. I’m so focused on getting our agenda done. On questions on way down the line, I'll address those way down the line,” he told ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos. “But in the meantime, we’ve got a lot of work to do. I’m here to stay. I'm not going anywhere. If something changes down the road in the future, I'll address that down the road in the future.”

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Asked by Stephanopoulos if he plans to seek reelection to Congress and as speaker, Ryan replied that “it’s not even 2018 yet, so that’s something my wife and I always discuss later in the campaign year, something we haven't even discussed yet. So that’s something we'll discuss down the road when the appropriate time comes.”

Despite his noncommittal answer on ABC, Ryan was insistent on CBS that he has much work left to accomplish and specifically disputed the notion that he might resign from Congress before the end of his term.

“I'm not going to get up and leave this Congress, our conference and my responsibilities in the middle of this term. We've got so much more work do,” he said, citing criminal justice reform, welfare reform and poverty as issues that remain on his to-do list. “We've got a lot of work do, we're excited about doing it. And we're banking a big win here. I want to get back to work and get more things done, not the least of which is to get the military rebuilt. So there’s a lot of work to do. That's why I'm not going anywhere soon.”