Paul Ryan: 'I'm tired of divided government'

House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday promised to work with a Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump administration but acknowledged that he’s worn out from working in an ineffective, divided Congress.

“Look, we’ll work with whoever wins whatever office,” Ryan (R-Wis.) said during a moderated discussion at the Washington Ideas Forum. “Obviously, I think with a unified Republican government, we can get so much more done.”


Ryan’s ascent to House speaker from Ways and Means committee chairman was in part due to a faction of House Republicans who effectively ousted then-Speaker John Boehner last year, adding intra-party division from a conservative bloc of Republicans to the often hyperpartisan gridlock among congressional Republicans and Democrats.

“I’m tired of divided government. It doesn’t work very well,” Ryan said. “We’re just at loggerheads. We’ve gotten some good things done. But the big things — poverty, the debt crisis, the economy, health care — these things are stuck in divided government, and that’s why we think a unified Republican government’s the way to go.”

Earlier in the discussion, though, Ryan was challenged on whether he would support Trump’s proposal to “at least double” Clinton’s proposed $275 billion on infrastructure spending.

“Would you help a President Donald Trump pass a $550 billion or more infrastructure program? Would that be something that you would help him achieve?” The Atlantic’s Ron Brownstein asked, prompting a chortle from Ryan, who was eventually able to collect himself to note, “That’s not in the Better Way agenda.”

And when asked if he’s heard anything he could work with a President Hillary Clinton on, Ryan again found the questioning amusing, laughing before asking Brownstein, “How much time you got?”