At the end of the first quarter Team Ryan had $3.2 million on hand, and Ryan for Congress had $7.6 million in the bank compared to Donald Trump's less than $1.3 million on hand. | AP Photo Ryan has no plans to raise money for Trump The speaker looks entirely focused on helping Republicans keep control of the House and Senate.

Donald Trump says he wants the Republican Party to start helping him fill up his barren campaign coffers.

He shouldn’t necessarily count on Speaker Paul Ryan.


Ryan (R-Wis.) is crafting an election-year campaign schedule focused on maintaining majorities in the House and Senate – a weighty task, with control of Congress in the balance. Any other request — raising money for Trump or helping him turn out the vote — will be considered on a case-by-case basis, an aide in Ryan’s political operation said.

“Speaker Ryan is focusing on supporting House and Senate Republicans,” the aide said. “The [Republican National Committee] has not asked him to participate in any fundraisers to date but should they ask, we will give those requests due consideration.”

It’s significant, because Ryan has emerged as one of the most prolific fundraisers in the Republican Party. Ryan’s political operation — dubbed Team Ryan — raised $17 million in the first quarter of 2016. He has raised more than $30 million for the Republican Party since October, and has transferred more than $21 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee this cycle.

As of the end of the first quarter, Team Ryan had $3.2 million on hand, and Ryan for Congress — the speaker’s reelection account — had $7.6 million in the bank.

Trump, by comparison, has less than $1.3 million on hand, according to a campaign filing made public Monday night. In various interviews over the past few days, Trump has said he would like elected Republicans to step up their game when it comes to fundraising for the party's presumptive nominee.

"If it gets to a point I'll do what I did in the primaries – I spent $55 million in the primaries,” Trump said on NBC’s “Today Show” Tuesday. “I may do it again in the general election, but it would be nice to have some help from the party.”

But Ryan, the top elected Republican in the country, seems solely focused on Congress. With Congress out of session next week, the speaker is making stops in California and Texas next week for fundraising events. Ryan isn't alone: Many top donors have shifted their focus and dollars to retaining GOP control of Congress, instead of the presidential election.

Ryan's posture is not altogether unfamiliar. Former Speaker John Boehner mostly focused on reelecting House Republicans, but he did get-out-the-vote events for Mitt Romney. Ryan, however, has a much bigger profile — and is far more popular — than Boehner.

In addition to working to reelect House Republicans, Ryan has also quietly helped out some of his friends in the Senate. He did a mailing for Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), with whom Ryan lived during his early days in Congress. And he appeared in Burlington, Wisconsin, for Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) reelection kickoff event.

There are many competitive Senate races in states that also have competitive House seats — such as Illinois, Nevada and Pennsylvania — giving Ryan the opportunity to double up on events. Ryan’s political team is “considering doing further events in the coming months for many of our incumbent senators with tough races once the legislative calendar slows down," an aide said.

