Pence: Ryan should stay in Congress, we’re ‘just getting started’

Vice President Pence on Wednesday said he and President Trump hope Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) remains in Congress amid rumors he will retire in 2018.

“I think the result of this tax cut really speaks for itself, and the president and I hold Speaker Ryan in the highest regard and want him to stay in the Congress and continue to lead Congress, because we’re really just getting started,” Pence said on Fox News’s “The Ingraham Angle.”

Politico reported last week that Ryan was privately eyeing an exit from Congress in 2018.

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Ryan has downplayed the report, calling it “irresponsible” and telling colleagues he is “not going anywhere anytime soon.”

Ryan and his Republican colleagues voted Wednesday to pass sweeping tax reform, just hours after the Senate did the same.

“There is certainly a school of thought that says ‘leave on a high note,’ ” a GOP lawmaker close to Ryan told The Hill in November. “And passage of tax reform would be a high note for a guy that’s spent 18 years in Congress working on it.”

The legislation, which passed both chambers without a single Democratic vote, will be sent to Trump for his signature.