

When Paul Ryan retires from Congress next year, he will become the youngest speaker of the House to willingly surrender his seat since Theodore Pomeroy, who served for just a few hours in 1869.

Ryan told reporters Wednesday that he’s leaving to spend more time with his three children, but at just 48 years old, the Wisconsin Republican has little experience in the private sector.

Fresh out of college, Ryan worked as a personal trainer, later waiting tables at a Tex-Mex restaurant in his early days as an aide on Capitol Hill. Before winning his seat at age 28, he spent a year as a marketing consultant for his family’s construction company.

Ryan has served as speaker since 2015. What comes next for him is anyone’s guess. Outgoing speakers have engaged in a broad range of public and private pursuits following their time in Congress.

After handing over the gavel to Ryan, former Republican Speaker John Boehner became a strategic adviser at a law firm and a board member for Reynolds American, a major tobacco company.

Boehner announced on Twitter Wednesday that he will join the board of Acreage Holdings — a cannabis company — saying his views on the substance have “evolved.” In 2009, he stated that he was “unalterably opposed” to marijuana.

Illinois Republican Dennis Hastert, the speaker from 1999 to 2007, became the senior adviser of a law firm and lobbying group the year after his speakership. Since then, he has spent time in a federal prison after admitting to sexually abusing teenage boys.

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His predecessor, Newt Gingrich, started a now-defunct health care think tank before launching an unsuccessful bid for the White House in 2012. In 2016, Gingrich served as vice chair of Donald Trump’s presidential transition team.

Gingrich retired from Congress at 55. Boehner and Hastert were both 65 when they left office. The last two Senate majority leaders to vacate their posts, Democrat Harry Reid and Republican Bill Frist, were 75 and 54, respectively.

Just because a member leaves Congress doesn’t mean they are required to give up the money in their campaign accounts. Although personal use of campaign funds is illegal, such committees can remain active indefinitely after retirement. Campaign committees can also be rebranded as political action committees (PACs) or money can be returned to donors, gifted to charities, donated to other candidates or transferred to party committees.

If a member decides to run for office again, those funds are fair game. Six years after his failed presidential bid, Gingrich’s campaign account still boasts over $894,000.

Reid, now 78, has over $3.3 million in his campaign account, even though he has expressed no interest in returning to politics. Hastert, disgraced as he is, still has almost $312,000 of cash on hand while Boehner and Frist’s coffers are empty.

Ryan, a prolific fundraiser, has almost $10.6 million remaining in his campaign committee.

Whether Ryan’s just taking a break from politics or plans to start a new life in the private sector, the former vice presidential nominee who was once the up-and-coming face of the GOP likely isn’t riding off into the Wisconsin sunset for good.



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