Paul Ryan Archives - Public Seminar

Feature

Last Speaker of the House to Leave, Turn Out the Lights

Paul Ryan’s Decision to Quit

April 14, 2018 • by John Lawrence

It has been 32 years since a Speaker of the U.S House of Representatives has truly left office of his – or her – own volition. Paul Ryan has not been forced to resign like Jim Wright following a scandal or John Boehner following repeated defections by his own troops. ...

Last Speaker of the House to Leave, Turn Out the Lights

Uncategorized

The Speaker’s Grovel

The constitutional role of the Speaker of the House

February 12, 2018 • by John Lawrence

We may not know how the ultimate budget impasse of 2018 will be resolved (the next shutdown deadline having been delayed six weeks). Nor do we know the resolution of the increasingly tense DACA dilemma – unnecessarily created by President Trump’s decision to rescind the broadly supported program. But as ...

Feature

2017: A Year of Reaction and Resistance

What About 2018?

January 4, 2018 • by Peter Dreier

Last year, 2017, began with President Donald Trump lying about the size of his inauguration crowd and ended with his lying about the size of the benefits he’ll get from the new tax bill. The year began with the largest protest marches in American history -- the five million strong ...

Feature

Why Both Parties May Regret a Government Shutdown

The continuing resolution showdown has risks for everyone

December 4, 2017 • by John Lawrence

Since Congress failed, as usual, to pass the appropriations bills by the October 1 deadline, legislators must extend existing spending levels to avoid a government shutdown. Despite the highly partisan atmosphere, virtually all extensions since 2011 have required the majority Republicans to seek Democratic votes because something less than 218 ...