U.S. House Speaker Ryan dismisses retirement reports

WASHINGTON, Dec.14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday dismissed swirling media reports here that he's going to retire from the Congress.

Asked at the end of his weekly press conference whether he was leaving Congress "soon," Ryan said: "I'm not, no."

Earlier Thursday, Politico published a lengthy report saying that Ryan, a 47-year-old Republican from the northeastern U.S. state of Wisconsin, told confidants that he would retire after the 2018 midterm election.

Earlier this week, the Huffington Post published a news report titled with "When will Paul Ryan step down?", kicking the rumors of Ryan's possible quit into high gear.

According to a TheHill news daily report, a number of Republican lawmakers said last month that Ryan could pass tax reform and quickly quit Congress, choosing to go out on top with a victory rather than waiting to be forced out like his predecessor, Speaker John Boehner.

The U.S. House and Senate are expected to pass a final version of their massive tax-cuts bill next week, with President Donald Trump planning to sign it into law by Christmas Day.

Ryan was first elected to the House in 1998, and went on to serve as chairman of the Ways and Means and Budget committees as well as Mitt Romney's vice presidential running mate in 2012. In October of 2015, he was elected as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives following Boehner's retirement. Enditem