Paul Ryan: Tax overhaul, military funding boost to help, future lawmakers must rein in Medicare, Medicaid

April 20--Outgoing U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Friday touted new GOP laws to rewrite the tax code and boost military funding, but said work remains, likely after he leaves office, to rein in health care programs for retirees and the poor.

Ryan's remarks came at a Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce event at the Edgewater Hotel in Madison. They were his first in public in his home state since he revealed last week that he won't seek re-election after two decades in Congress.

He painted a rosy picture as his party heads into what's expected to be a tough fight to retain control of the U.S. House in the fall midterms.

"We see a military that's being rebuilt; an economy that's growing," Ryan said.

For the remainder of 2018, Ryan said he anticipates Congress tackling a re-write of the Dodd-Frank financial law, infrastructure measures and a 2018 Farm Bill that would dramatically expand work requirements for food stamp recipients.

He also called for a bipartisan commission to address so-called "entitlements," or health care programs for the retired or poor, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Ryan said spending growth in those programs is by far the main concern in balancing future federal budgets.

Ryan also said he sees an expanded role for the federal government in regulating big tech companies, but wants Congress -- which recently held high-profile hearings on the subject -- to proceed deliberately.

"People's privacy rights are clearly being compromised," Ryan said. "We want to make sure that we get it right without stifling innovation."

Ryan's departure came months after enactment of one of his career-long ambitions, overhauling the federal tax code, which passed in December. But his two-and-a-half-year tenure as speaker otherwise was marked by frustrations, legislative and political -- and most recently, his uneasy relationship with his party's standard-bearer, President Donald Trump.

Ryan's announcement set off scrambles to replace him as House Speaker -- and for who will succeed him representing Wisconsin'sFirst Congressional District.

So far the Republican candidates who have registered with the Federal Election Commission are Nick Polce, a Lake Geneva businessman and U.S. Army veteran, and Paul Nehlen, an alt-right social media provocateur who was banned from Twitter for making posts widely viewed as racist and anti-Semitic, and who Ryan's campaign has criticized for "bigoted rhetoric."

Bryan Steil, a Janesville attorney and University of Wisconsin System regent, is considering a GOP bid.

Randy Bryce, a Caledonia ironworker and political activist, and Janesville teacher Cathy Myers are the Democratic candidates. State Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, the former state Assembly Democratic Leader, also has said he's considering a run.

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