House Speaker Paul Ryan Says Republicans Need Ideas, Not Just To Voice Opposition

Wanted: Ideas. The Republican Party must begin proposing ideas rather than simply serving as an echo chamber of opposition should it wish to win the White House in 2016, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” Sunday.

“We, as Republicans, if we don’t like these laws, don’t like the direction the country’s going, I think we have to be more than just an opposition party. We have to be a proposition party,” CBS News quoted Ryan as saying.

Ryan credited this counsel to the insight he gained as the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee in 2012. “If you wait until late summer, end of summer, to then roll out what you believe in and what your agenda is, I think it’s too late,” he said.

The specific issues Republican presidential candidates are facing include opposition to the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, and measures designed to deal with poverty in the U.S. However, the GOP is divided on these and other topics. For example, Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman who is the front-runner in the race for the party’s nomination, opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, while other party members, such as Ryan, support it.

Ryan’s urging came months after the Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton criticized the Republicans for their inaction and indecisiveness. After the GOP candidates’ debate Nov. 10, the former secretary of state tweeted a quotation of a song in the Broadway musical “Hamilton”:

According to the results of the latest Marist Poll in Iowa, Clinton leads Democratic presidential candidates, with 48 percent support, followed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, with 45 percent, and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, with 5 percent. The same poll in the early-voting state indicates Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas lead Republican presidential candidates, with the duo virtually tied.