Off the wire
• Portuguese parliament to vote on gov't program on Nov. 10  • Britain to send museum experts to help protect Iraqi heritage  • Chinese IT giant offers smart grid solution to power companies in Africa  • Chinese language competition held in Ethiopia to strengthen cultural exchanges  • Austrian tourism industry records best summer season in over two decades  • Austria debates tighter border controls, potential construction of fence  • Lithuania improves position in World Bank Doing Business index  • European Parliament firmly rejects GMO ban proposal  • Urgent: U.S. dollar rises on Fed statement  • MEPs back new limits on key air pollutants  
You are here: 　 Home

U.S House Republicans nominate Paul Ryan to be next Speaker

Xinhua, October 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Republicans on the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday nominated Paul Ryan, a Republican from the state of Wisconsin, to be the Speaker of the chamber.

Ryan, 45, still needs to be elected Thursday in a full House vote. But his winning of the post Thursday is almost a certainty given the fact that the GOP is currently holding 247 out of the House's 435 seats.

To be elected as the Speaker of the House, Ryan would need at least 218 votes. If elected, Ryan will be one of the youngest speakers in American history.

Earlier this month, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy abruptly dropped bid to replace outgoing Speaker John Boehner moments before House Republicans started voting for the party's nomination of a new speaker, thrusting House Republican leadership into frustration.

Like Boehner's abrupt announcement of resignation from speakership of the House and of retirement from Congress last month, McCarthy's decision to pull out of the race highlighted how the insurgence of a relatively small group of hard-line conservatives within the Republican Party challenges the party establishment.

After initial refusal to take the job, Ryan, the Republican Party nominee for vice president of the United States, who ran alongside Mitt Romney, the Republican Party nominee for president of the United States in the 2012 election, relented Thursday but set several conditions for a candidacy, including a change of House rules that would remove the ability of any House members to seek a vote to vacate the speaker's chair, as what happened to House Speaker Boehner last month. Endit