Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have officially nominated Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., to serve as the next speaker of the House. In a closed-door, secret ballot vote on Wednesday, 45-year-old Ryan won the support of 200 of the 247 Republicans.
Rep. Daniel Webster of Florida received 43 votes, Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee received one vote and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who previously abandoned his speakership bid, received one vote, according to The Huffington Post. Rep. Trey Gowdy nominated Ryan on Wednesday, and Reps. Jeb Hensarling and Kristi Noem seconded his nomination.
Ryan, a nine-term congressman and former vice presidential nominee, must now win 218 votes in the full House election, which includes the Democrats and is scheduled to take place on Thursday.
The 45 Republicans who did not vote for Ryan "are enough to block him from getting the Speakership during the partisan floor vote on Thursday - if the 45 GOP legislators maintain their opposition, and if Ryan is not aided by a last-minute bloc of Democratic votes," according to Breitbart.
If elected, Ryan will take the place of outgoing Speaker John Boehner, who announced last month that he is leaving Congress on Oct. 30.
Ryan initially said he wasn't interested in mounting a bid, but changed his mind after winning the support of key Republican factions, including most of the three dozen ultra-conservatives known as the House Freedom Caucus, who were largely responsible for forcing Boehner's resignation, according to Bloomberg.
The group had initially expressed doubts in Ryan's leadership, especially considering he previously supported amnesty for illegal immigrants, but Ryan earned their support after ensuring the caucus that no immigration reform bill will see the light of day while President Obama is in office, according to Town Hall.
Ryan has pledged to work as a unifying force by letting more House members have a say, and to make Congress more effective.
"This begins a new day in the House of Representatives," he said, according to CBS News. "Tomorrow, we are turning the page. We are not going to have a house that looked like it looked the last few years. Our party has lost its vision and we're going to replace it with a vision."
"We are going to respect the people by representing the people," he added.
To become speaker, Ryan will have to give up his current position as the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. Prior to that, he served as chairman of the House Budget Committee and earned a reputation for his efforts to cut the deficit, reduce government spending, and reform costly entitlement programs, according to USA Today.
He does, however, support the newly announced bipartisan two-year budget deal, which the hardline Freedom Caucus has called a "fiscal monstrosity" and an "affront to open, accountable, and limited government. It plunges our nation into debt to the tune of nearly $20 trillion, busts the spending caps enacted by Congress just a few years ago," notes Breitbart.
