House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Tuesday morning spelled out his top four priorities for Congress when Donald Trump takes office next year.
During an interview on Wisconsin radio station WCLO, Ryan said that Congress’ first priority is to “get the economy growing” again by reducing regulations. He said that addressing Obamacare will be “early on the agenda,” and that making changes to the tax code would come “soon thereafter.” Finally, Ryan said that “securing the border is a high priority” without elaborating on what kind of immigration legislation congressional Republicans would pursue.
“These things can be done simultaneously,” Ryan said, indicating that he would like to move quickly on all four priorities he listed.
Ryan said that while Obamacare should be replaced, there are aspects of health care legislation that all lawmakers agree on, including letting parents keep their children on their health insurance until age 26 and ensuring that patients with pre-existing conditions can get health insurance.
Ryan said that the Affordable Care Act was a “huge government takeover” of health insurance and that Congress must “break up that monopoly” to bring down prices and “give consumers more power.”
The speaker said he was pleased with Trump’s decision to nominate Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, calling Price “one of the architects of replacing Obamacare.”
Ryan said that he has been in “constant communication” with Trump and that he spoke with the President-elect yesterday.
“I speak with President-elect Trump just about every single day,” he told WCLO.
