CONGRESS/ELECTION/GOP/PAUL RYAN/TRUMP PEOPLE: “House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday [4-11-18] he would retire at the end of the term, delivering an unexpected jolt to the battle for control of the House in the midterm elections and setting up a new scramble among House Republicans to replace him. The Wisconsin Republican said he had decided to leave after nearly 20 years in Congress because he had accomplished many of his legislative goals and wanted to spend more than one day a week with his children in Wisconsin. ‘We have achieved a heck of a lot,’ said Mr. Ryan, singling out the tax overhaul the GOP-controlled Congress passed late last year. But he said he had only agreed in the fall of 2015 to become the speaker reluctantly, and was no longer willing to be absent from home.”
–Kristina Peterson, “House Speaker Paul Ryan Won’t Seek Re-Election,” The New York Times online, April 11, 2018