Rep. Paul Ryan’s selection as Ways and Means chairman was ratified on Wednesday by the full GOP caucus in the House. Ryan said tax reform will be high on his priority list for the committee. Credit: Associated Press

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Washington, D.C. – Paul Ryan, new chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, had harsh words Wednesday for President Obama’s expected move to give some form of legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants.

“I fear that if the president moves forward on this unconstitutional executive order, that he’s going to do so much to poison the well intentionally, to pick a fight with Congress, that it’s going to bring more gridlock,” Ryan said in an interview with the Journal Sentinel.

“If he proceeds with this, it would be one of the most breathtaking and stunning acts of polarization that I have ever seen in government,” Ryan said. “That will be his intentional decision to have an even more adversarial relationship with Congress.”

Ryan spoke shortly after his selection as Ways and Means chairman was ratified by the full GOP caucus in the House.

The president plans to deliver a prime-time address Thursday to announce plans to shield from the threat of deportation the immigrant parents of children who have citizenship or have permanent legal status. He is expected to assert executive authority in doing so, and cite the failure of Republicans in Congress to support a broad immigration bill that would provide a path to legal status for those who came to the U.S. illegally.

In a video posted by the White House, the president said he planned to outline “some steps that I can take to start fixing our broken immigration system.” Republicans have denounced the idea, arguing it goes beyond the president’s constitutional powers and saying such action would be both illegal and politically destructive. Ryan echoed that position Wednesday, shortly after his powerful new committee post became official.

In becoming chairman of the oldest committee in Congress and the one that writes the tax laws, Ryan is realizing a long-held ambition.

“It has been the job I’ve been seeking and aspiring to do for a long time because it has jurisdiction on all the issues I care so much about,” Ryan said Wednesday. “It’s in charge of health care laws, retirement laws, tax laws, trade laws, welfare laws. It has such a big impact on our economy and economic growth and job creation, and on the fiscal sustainability of the country.”

Ryan said once again Wednesday that he has made no decision about whether to run for president in 2016, and that decision will come some time next year.

“I’m just going to take these things one step at a time and that’s a decision I’m going to make later,” he said.

That decision could be complicated by a new rule adopted by House Republicans that requires committee chairs to give up the gavel if they run for another office. The GOP lawmaker who wrote the rule has said it was not aimed at Ryan’s situation, but Ryan would need a waiver from the rule in order to remain chairman should he seek the Republican presidential nomination for 2016.

Asked about the rule Wednesday, Ryan said only, “I’m comfortable with it.”

Ryan said tax reform will be high on his priority list for the committee, as will moving ahead with work on a potential alternative to the health care law passed when Democrats controlled Congress.

“We need to articulate a different vision for health care. I do believe Obamacare is going to collapse under its own weight for lots of reasons … so I think we need to be prepared for what we replace it with,” Ryan said. “And I know we won’t pass a repeal and a (new) law with this president.”

Ryan takes over Ways and Means after serving as House budget chairman. His new post is arguably the most powerful post a Wisconsin lawmaker has held in recent decades – along with former Democratic Congressman Dave Obey’s leadership of the House appropriations committee.

“There are a lot of issues that are going to come through the committee over the next few years that are going to have big impact on Americans and I want to make my mark in trying to help improve things,” said Ryan.

The Janesville Republican said he sees potential for bipartisan action on issues such as trade.

But on some big issues, given the differences between the president and Congress, “it’s hard to speculate how far these things can get, but it won’t be for our lack of trying.”

Other Wisconsin lawmakers who have served in the last several decades as the chairs of major congressional committees include: Republican Jim Sensenbrenner (the House judiciary committee); Democrats Les Aspin (House armed services), Clem Zablocki (House foreign affairs) Henry Reuss (House banking) and William Proxmire (Senate banking).

