Ryan Elected Speaker of “Broken” House

The House of Representatives on Thursday elected Rep. Paul Ryan as its new speaker, with 236 members voting for the Republican from Wisconsin. “The House is broken. We’re not solving problems, we’re adding to them,” Ryan said shortly before swearing the oath of office. “I am not interested in laying blame … we are wiping the slate clean.” Ryan said the House must return to “regular order,” noting that when Americans look at Washington, “all they see is chaos.” The House should not duck hard issues, he said, but rather, take them on directly. “We should not hide our disagreements, we should embrace them,” he said. Ryan previously served as the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Budget Committee, and in late 2013 angered veterans when he included a provision to reduce cost-of-living adjustments for some military retirees in the budget deal to avoid sequester. Those cuts were later overturned. Ryan, who was the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee in 2012, is the youngest speaker of the House to be elected since 1869, according to a House press release.