April 11, 2018

Speaker Paul Ryan to Retire from Congress

Multiple outlets report Ryan will inform colleagues today.

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Facing the potential loss of the House of Representatives to Democrats this fall, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) will not seek re-election in November. Axios first reported the news. His retirement sends a signal to Republican members and donors that the party’s chances of holding a majority in November are narrowing and could depress morale among GOP members.

Ryan prefers to leave Congress than preside over a slim Republican majority or serve as minority leader, according to Axios. Morever, he can say he achieved his dream of passing a tax reform bill. That bill slashed taxes for the rich and is growing the deficit. During the Trump presidency, Ryan has been a supporter of the president as well as House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), a close ally of Trump, who has sought to undermine the Russia investigation.

After he leaves Congress, either Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) or Steve Scalise (R-La.), the second and third ranking House Republicans, respectively, will likely succeed Ryan as party leader.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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