On Friday’s broadcast of “CNN Tonight,” U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) responded to questions on voting with House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) 100% of the time and whether he regrets any of those votes by saying that he ran against Pelosi for Speaker and “when you are in the majority, you work issues into the bills that you’re going to vote on so that your members can vote for it.”
Host Jake Tapper asked, “[Y]ou’ve been hit hard and with a lot of ad money for voting 100% of the time with Speaker Pelosi. With the benefit of hindsight, are there any votes you regret?”
Ryan responded, “I ran against Nancy Pelosi, Jake. You remember that. You covered that. I think one of the hardest things in Washington D.C. to do is for you to take on your own party’s leadership, and I did that and I’ve got the scars to prove it. … I’ve taken on my own party. I’ve disagreed with President Biden on reducing tariffs on solar panels coming in from China, on relaxation of Title 42 at the border, the student loan issue. I’ve taken on the former Democratic administration on trade, on fast track. And I’ve agreed with Trump on issues.”
Tapper followed up, “But is there — do you regret any votes? You voted 100% of the time with Nancy Pelosi. You’re saying no, you don’t regret anything?”
Ryan answered, “Well, what I’m saying is I get — let me just say this, Jake, running against House leadership is a very, very difficult thing. So, the question is, do you have the courage to take on your own party? Yes. I have and I’ve, as I said, got the scars to prove it. But I will say, when you are in the majority, you work issues into the bills that you’re going to vote on so that your members can vote for it. I got the buy American provision in the infrastructure bill so that we’re going to be buying American steel, American concrete instead of Chinese steel to build these bridges. I got that in that bill. So, I voted for it. The CHIPS Act, I was very instrumental in helping that bill pass. So, yes, of course, I’m going to vote for it. The Inflation Reduction Act, I wanted the natural gas stuff that was in there. We wanted the electric vehicle stuff that was in there. I wanted the 300 billion in deficit reduction in the Inflation Reduction Act. So, I helped get those in the bills and then you vote for them. So, the bill’s not going to come to the floor unless guys like me have what we want, the priorities for Ohio in the bill.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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