» Ryan visits MillerCoors:
Speaker visited Milwaukee to tour MillerCoors
House Speaker Paul Ryan comes to town to talk up tax reform but is dragged back to a subject that has bedeviled the Republican agenda.
House Speaker Paul Ryan came to MillerCoors in Milwaukee on Monday to talk up tax reform but before he even got there he ended up being dragged back to a subject that has bedeviled the Republican agenda.
The ongoing probe of potential collusion with Russia by President Donald Trump’s campaign was raised during an interview Ryan had with conservative talk show host Jay Weber on WISNAM (1130).
Ryan was asked why Republicans weren’t defending Trump against “what is becoming an obvious witch hunt here with Robert Mueller,” the special counsel overseeing an investigation of Russian interference int he 2016 elections.
“Remember, Bob Mueller is a Republican who was appointed by a Republican who served in a Republican administration and stayed on until his term ended,” Ryan said of the former FBI director. “But I don’t think many people are saying Bob Mueller is a person who is a biased partisan. He’s really sort of anything but.
“The point is, we have an investigation in the House, an investigation in the Senate, and a special counsel, which sort of depoliticizes this stuff, and gets it out of the political theater. And that is, I think, better, to get this off to the side. I think the facts will vindicate themselves. And then, let’s just go do our jobs.
“So what we’re not focused on doing is spending all of our time on Russia, spending all of our time on this intrigue. We want to spend our time focusing on solving people’s problems.”
At MillerCoors, Ryan toured a shipping warehouse, met with workers and sat down with top company officials over coffee at the Miller Inn.
On tax reform, Ryan said he wants to “put American businesses on a level playing field,” noting they face a much higher tax rate than their international competitors.
Ryan said tax reform is “really important to make American businesses more competitive in the world so we can keep our economy growing, get better take-home pay and more jobs.”
Ryan said the House, Senate and Trump administration are “getting on the same page on tax reform” with the objective of getting legislation passed and signed this year.
Even with the focus on upcoming tax legislation, the Senate is still grappling with health care reform.
The House passed its version to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, but Senate Republicans haven’t been able to muster the 50 votes necessary to take up the measure.
Asked if the Senate could move on the bill Tuesday, Ryan said, “It’s impossible to determine the final product of the health care bill coming out of the Senate because of all the different amendments they’re going to consider.”
“But obviously my hope is that the Senate does get health care done,” Ryan added.