Paul Ryan says it's "easier" having Trump in the White House than a Democrat
Speaker Paul Ryan is claiming that it's "easier" having a Republican in the White House rather than a Democrat, despite some of the legislative challenges his party has faced so far this year.
In a new interview on Fox News' "Fox and Friends," the Wisconsin Republican was asked if it's not necessarily easier having President Trump in the White House.
"Oh, I think it's easier," Ryan said. "It's easier but also it's exciting and it gives you optimism because you have a chance of doing things."
Ryan said that Republicans, on the other hand, disagreed with President Obama "on so many things."
"With President Trump, the sky's the limit," he said. "I mean, the Senate is a razor thin majority. That is a very tight majority. But we have this opportunity and we just cannot blow it."
But it hasn't exactly been easy for the Republican majority. The GOP's two major accomplishments during the Trump administration so far are confirming Neil Gorsuch as a Supreme Court justice and reversing a series of Obama-era regulations through the Congressional Review Act.
Aside from those successes, Republicans have been struggling. The House narrowly passed a GOP health care bill to repeal and replace Obamacare in early May after failing to secure enough support for the original measure in March. The Senate, meanwhile, was expected to vote on a different version of the bill this week before the July 4 recess, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, suddenly decided Tuesday to delay the vote until they return. Leadership was struggling to secure enough support to advance the bill to a final vote.
Other items the GOP majority hasn't completed:
- Republicans have not yet passed budget resolutions in the House and Senate this year, which is what would allow them to pass tax reform through reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority and not a supermajority in the Senate.
- The GOP was forced to back down from Mr. Trump's demand to fund his proposed border wall due to Democratic opposition.
- Congress has not yet seriously considered a major infrastructure plan proposed by the Trump administration.