Rep. Paul Ryan has been reelected Speaker of the House:
As expected, Republican Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin on Tuesday was elected speaker of the House for the 2017-2018 congressional term. The final vote was 239-189, with five lawmakers not voting for either Ryan or Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.
There were issues with Ryan’s speakership (as there were with all his Republican predecessors), but with Republicans in control of all three branches of government, Ryan should be able to implement vastly more of the Republican agenda than they did under Obama. Ryan needs to enable Trump when he’s acting to implement conservative policies, and provide a check on him when he isn’t.
First order of business: Repealing ObamaCare. Second order: Junking as much of the remaining cruft of the Obama Administration as possible. Third order: Securing the border and staying the hell away from the siren song of “comprehensive immigration reform” that so many establishment Republicans still harbor a suicidal longing for.
There’s a hundred other things that need attending to (including doing something about the budget deficit), but the damage of the Obama years will not be undone overnight…