Why Ryan doesn’t want to be speaker; Republicans split on debt limit and Clinton won’t back Pacific trade deal

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

PAUL RYAN STICKING TO WAYS AND MEANS. It is no secret that there has a been a movement to draft House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan as the next Speaker of the House, but the Wisconsin Republican genuinely doesn’t want the job.

Power Post has the story:

“Paul Ryan has built his career on the idea that he can lead Republicans to the fiscal promised land of limited government by rewriting the country’s tax code and overhauling entitlement programs he contends are drowning the nation in debt.

Choosing to run now for speaker in the chaotic, fractured House is no way to achieve those goals. That’s why when  Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced last month he would step down as speaker and the Draft Ryan pleas began, the former vice presidential nominee’s answer was a resounding “no.”

The Wisconsin Republican is instead sitting back and playing the long game by holding on to the chairmanship of the powerful Ways and Means Committee in hopes a Republican occupies the White House in 2017 and he can finally begin making a reality out of his big policy ambitions.”

GOP SPLIT ON DEBT LIMIT. House Speaker John A. Boehner has a long list of fiscal issues he could try to resolve before he leaves office at the end of October but high on the list of must-pass items is increasing the debt limit. The Treasury Department estimates the nation will run out of borrowing power by Nov. 5 but, the Hill reports that Republicans are split over how it should be handled.

“Conservatives see the looming debt hike as leverage that could be used to extract concessions from the Obama administration.

But moderates are wary of flirting with a federal default, something the business world has long warned would be disastrous.

GOP lawmakers can’t even agree on who should take the lead on the issue, with many questioning whether outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) should be involved ahead of his resignation from Congress at the end of October.”

CLINTON COMES OUT AGAINST TPP. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Wednesday that she does not support the Obama administration’s recently completed Pacific Rim trade deal. The negative reaction from the former Secretary of State was a blow to President Obama’s efforts to drum up support for the trade pact. The Post has more on her decision:

“Clinton said in an interview with PBS that she would not support the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) based on what she knows of the deal. The 30-chapter text of the agreement, which negotiators concluded Monday, has not been made public.

“‘As of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it,’ Clinton said in the interview. ‘I have said from the very beginning that we had to have a trade agreement that would create good American jobs, raise wages and advance our national security. I still believe that’s the high bar we have to meet. I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can about the agreement, but I’m worried.'”