Harry Reid Expresses Support For Paul Ryan Speakership

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid tells reporters he is “a Paul Ryan fan” and that he “hope[s]” the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman will be the next GOP Speaker of the House, according to multiple reports.

FOX News reporter Kara Rowland tweeted, “Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid to reporters: ‘I’m a Paul Ryan fan.’ Says he ‘appears to be’ someone ‘who could be reasonable.’”

Bloomberg’s Derek Wallbank wrote, “Harry Reid on Paul Ryan: of all the speaker options, `I hope he gets it.'”

PBS’ Quin Bowman tweeted, “Harry Reid volunteers that he hopes Paul Ryan becomes speaker: ‘We’ve been able to work with him.'”

Indeed, Paul Ryan has shown repeated willingness to go around conservative lawmakers in order to work with Democrats’ agenda. As Chairman of the House Ways And Means Committee, Ryan was essential to ushering President Obama’s trade agenda through the House of Representatives.

Similarly, on the issue of immigration—Ryan has a two-decade long history of sabotaging conservative immigration reforms and embracing progressive ones. During the 2013 effort to push the Rubio-Schumer bill through Congress, Politico notes that Ryan held secret meetings with Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer in order to facilitate the passage of the mass amnesty plan.

In fact, Ryan has frequently invoked the language of the left in order to smear his Republican constituents who oppose his plan for mass immigration. At an event with Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez in 2013, in which the two were aggressively stumping for Rubio’s immigration expansion bill, Ryan declared that his Republican constituents’ opposition to large-scale immigration is fueled by “ignorance.” Ann Coulter has pointed out that this tactic of demeaning Republican voters was similarly favored by Paul Ryan’s mentor Jack Kemp.

At this time, Ryan is considering whether or not he will run. It’s unclear which he will lean, but sources on all sides of the matter in the House GOP conference tell Breitbart News that Ryan is holding a series of meetings with colleagues and his final decision is imminent. While Harry Reid seems enthusiastic at the prospect of a Ryan Speakership, conservative lawmakers such as Rep. Steve King have expressed strong opposition. King recently declared that there would be a “major intraparty battle” should Ryan step forward to run for Speaker.

Ryan refused to comment to Breitbart News for this story.