AS IT IS 2015-10-27 Paul Ryan Ready to Take Charge of the House

AS IT IS 2015-10-27 Paul Ryan Ready to Take Charge of the House

If all goes as planned, Rep. Paul Ryan will be elected speaker this week.

The Republican congressman¹ from the state of Wisconsin would be the 62nd House speaker. The speaker is the leader of the 435-member House of Representatives.

He is also second in line to the presidency² – behind just the vice³ president – should the president die or be unable to continue in office.

How tough a job has he accepted? What kind of speaker will he be? And how could he stay home on weekends instead of raising funds for fellow Republicans?

Former Congressman Bob Livingston said Paul Ryan “is a very capable guy, a policy wonk, who was reluctant to take the job because he liked being a committee chairman and valued his time with his family.”

Bob Livingston, who briefly⁵ led the House Republicans in 1998, said “House Republicans said they needed him and he didn’t want to let them down. And to get him, members were willing to agree to his conditions.”

Ryan became nationally known as Republican Mitt⁴ Romney’s vice presidential running mate in 2012. They lost to the ticket of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

Ryan is currently chair of the House committee that writes the tax laws for the United States. He wanted to keep that job. He has been working on legislation to make the U.S. tax code simpler.

So, when House leaders came to him and asked him to run for speaker, Representative Ryan said he needed time to think about it.

Ryan said he does not want to spend too many weekends away from his wife and three children. His children, two boys and a girl, are aged⁶ 10, 12, and 13.

Paul Ryan, like most members, now gets long weekends at home with family because the House generally works short weeks.

But the speaker is generally expected to travel on weekends to raise campaign funds. Outgoing Speaker John Boehner spent 200 days a year to raise funds for Republicans, aides said.

Paul Ryan’s agreement with leaders means others will fill in for him at many of those fund-raising events.

His desire to keep weekends with family drew praise, but some criticism, too.

Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg gave him the “Lean in Award” of the day.

“We need work to work for parents – and having leaders who weigh responsibilities as fathers as much as their responsibilities to their jobs shows all of us what is possible,” she wrote on Facebook.

But Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted that “millions of hard-working moms and dads want work/life balance, too,” just like Ryan. But Warren said they “can be fired just for asking for time off to care for a sick kid.”

Paul Ryan’s rise to the speaker’s position at the relatively⁸ young age of 45 will not be easy. The 247 Republicans in the House are divided.

Some want to fight President Obama, a Democrat⁷, even harder than they have already in his seven years in office. But other Republicans say compromise is needed. If not, the federal government could shut down for the second time since 2013. Republicans got most of the blame in 2013.

Paul Ryan is set to become House leader just as several critical issues are before Congress: Congress will consider extending the debt limit in the next few weeks so the United States can pay its debts. And Congress and the president must agree on how much money to spend over the next 10 months or risk another government shutdown.

Words in This Story

tough – adj. very difficult to do or deal with

wonk – n. a person who knows a lot about the details of a particular field (such as politics) and often talks a lot about that subject

reluctant – adj. not willing or eager to do something

fund – n. an amount of money that is used for a special purpose

shutdown – n. closure

1 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

2 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

5 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

6 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

7 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。