Rep. Paul Ryan won’t run for president in 2016.
The Republicans’ 2012 vice presidential nominee told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and NBC News he’s happy chairing the tax-writing House Ways and Means committee.
“I like where I am,” the veteran Wisconsin congressman, 44, told the Journal Sentinel. “I feel like I can have a huge impact on the course of the debate in this country.”
Ryan would have entered the race in the first tier of candidates. A hero to the party’s conservative economic insiders, he could have raised substantial campaign funds and is well-liked among party regulars. As House Budget Chairman, he was the architect of a detailed blueprint for reducing the deficit that House Republicans embraced, but it got nowhere in the Democratic-run Senate.
His presidential decision was not unexpected. He likes the give and take of legislation, and relished his new chairmanship.
“It’s a big job and it deserves my undivided attention,,” he said, particularly at a time when there’s talk of overhauling the nation’s tax code.