Ryan wouldn't say if he wants to be chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Ryan doesn't want to be speaker

SAN ANTONIO — Rep. Paul Ryan said he does not want to be speaker of the House, a declaration that will cause reverberations in Republican leadership circles in Washington.

During a wide-ranging luncheon in a hotel ballroom here Thursday, Texas Tribune editor-in-chief Evan Smith asked: “Does Paul Ryan want to be speaker?”


“No, he doesn’t,” Ryan replied.

“When Janna and I joined [Mitt Romney’s presidential] ticket, we looked at what would this do to our family and we realized that actually we would see each other more in the vice presidency than as a member of the House,” Ryan said, explaining his decision. “We would see each other less in the speakership than as a member of the House.”

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Ryan declined to say whether he is interested in the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee — it’s too early to discuss, he said. But he then returned to the subject of the speakership, and described at length why he has no interest in running for the House’s top slot.

The House Budget chairman is notoriously tight-lipped about his political ambitions and his explanation represents the fullest description of how Ryan sees his future.

“I could’ve decided to go on the elected leadership route years ago,” Ryan said during a luncheon sponsored by local chambers of commerce and the nonprofit news outlet the Texas Tribune. “I’m more of a policy person. I prefer spending my days on policy and my weekends at home with my family. My weekends consist of going to the YMCA for basketball and then one of their neighborhood parishes for basketball these days. I want to keep doing that. … The speaker is expected to fly around the country on weekends as well, helping folks — I’m not going to do that. I’m four days a week in D.C. and three days a week in Janesville — it’s a good mix, I like that mix.”

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After Romney and Ryan lost the presidential race in 2012, the Wisconsin Republican inched his way back into the House and has become, perhaps, the most important Republican deal maker in Washington.

Following a 16-day government shutdown in October, Ryan paired with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to craft a budget deal. The agreement, which President Barack Obama signed, had some deficit reduction, no tax hikes and left aside the entitlement reforms Ryan has long sought. It did, however, help to avoid another government shutdown and begin to return Congress to some semblance of usual order.

Ryan is now working with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and GOP leadership to chart a course to bring an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws to a vote.

Of course, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) — who has been in Congress two years less than Ryan — is assumed to have his eyes on the speaker’s gavel. But there’s certainly a hefty pocket of Republicans in Washington who privately pine for Ryan to grab the House’s top job.

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The political dynamics could always change. Ryan could see his national political ambitions fade, and the speakership could look like a more appealing option.

Ryan was far less clear about the possibility of a presidential run in 2016, saying he’s keeping his “options open.”

“I don’t know the answer to that question,” Ryan said. “I feel like I have an important job to do as leader in the House — we’re in the majority right now, I’m going to focus on that, then after this session,” he will consider a run for the White House, he said. Asked where he would run if Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker also launches a campaign, Ryan said the pair would “work something out.”

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