The only thing missing, however, is a confirmation from Ryan himself, which however won't be forthcoming because moments after the Politico report, the Washington Examiner reported that Paul Ryan "laughed away speculation that he plans to quit his post after Congress passes tax reform and said next year's agenda will include legislation to transform the nation's welfare program into one that can move more people from dependency on government into the workforce."
"Next year is going to be the year where we work on people," Ryan told reporters who asked about his welfare reform plan at his weekly news conference. "Next year is the year we work on getting people where they need to get in life, in better jobs, an actual career, closing the skills gap."
Ryan has pledged to his largest faction of conservatives that the House would tackle entitlement reform in 2018 with a welfare-to-work proposal. Ryan is a longtime advocate of reforming the nation's welfare system to make it one that helps transition people away from dependency and into good paying jobs.
Ryan said the proposal would include career training as well as criminal justice reform, which has enjoyed wide bipartisan support in both chambers but has nonetheless stalled this year.
Politico conceded as much, and reported that Ryan "can't afford to admit he’s a lame-duck—his fundraising prowess and dealmaking leverage would be vastly diminished, making the House all the more difficult to govern." As such, "when asked at the end of a Thursday morning press conference if he was leaving soon, Ryan shot a quick “no” over his shoulder as he walked out of the room."
So is Ryan leaving or not? Following the duo of conflicting reports, there is absolutely no clarity either way, but at least a lot of excited people helped bring in a lot of breathless clicks for the source article.
More at: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-1...speaker-denies
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