Good Morning Friends,

Paul D. Ryan's election as Speaker

Republican Conference vote (10/28/2015): Ryan - 200, Webster - 43, McCarthy - 1, Blackburn - 1 (secret ballot)

-The House Freedom Caucus stuck with Webster in conference and as you now know, most backed Paul Ryan on the House floor.

House Roll Call Vote 581:

Ryan - 236, Pelosi - 184, Webster - 9, Other - 3

- Votes for Webster - Dave Brat (VA), Curt Clawson (FL), Gohmert (TX), Gosar (AZ), Jones (NC), Massie (KY), Posey (FL), Webber (TX), Yoho (FL). Webster did not receive a formal nomination on the House floor.

- Jim Cooper (TN) voted for Colin Powell

- Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) voted for John Lewis

- Gwen Graham (FL) voted for Jim Cooper (TN)

In his first address as Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan described an optimistic vision for America, the House and the potential of each member of Congress to contribute meaningfully. He also described the House itself as broken and pledged to reform how it works. He declared that major legislation should be written by the committees of jurisdiction. You can read his complete remarks to the House here .

The devil is always in the details and the implementation. Your team at Prime Policy will be closely tracking developments and keeping your issues of concern front and center through this transition. We'll be closely following the process and staffing changes that arise.

~ For the twitter users out there, Paul Ryan launched a new twitter handle yesterday @SpeakerRyan

For Client Priorities - Based both on Paul Ryan's vision for running the House and the breadth of his new responsibilities - we continue to advise clients to focus their energy on their champions in the House and the committees of jurisdiction. The policy structure of the House remains largely the same. It is a good time to check with champions in both houses of Congress.

On staffing - Dave Hoppe is Chief of Staff. That is the only announced staffing decision, although Joyce Meyer, Austin Smythe, & Brendan Buck will form the core of the new Speaker's staff.

On process/rules - Changes to the Steering Committee (that decides committee assignments and chairmanships) are expected before Thanksgiving. Changes to the House and Republican conference rules are being considered by a working group run by Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (WA) and Luke Messer (IN) and are expected not later than early January. A number of ideas are under discussion and changes to the motion to vacate procedure is still on the Speaker's list of priorities. More to come.

Ways and Means

Sam Johnson (TX) will serve as interim Chairman until a new one is selected by the Steering Committee and approved by the Conference. Matt Weidinger will serve as interim Staff Director of the full committee. Matt has long been staff director of the Human Resources Subcommittee. This is necessary to prevent a halt in the work of the committee in the meantime. The Steering Committee (in its current make-up) will meet next week to decide on a new Chairman. The race is between Pat Tiberi (OH) and Kevin Brady (TX).

The new opening on the committee is being sought by Bradley Byrne (AL), Carlos Curbelo (FL), Tom Rice (SC), Andy Barr (KY) and perhps others.

Calendar

** House passed the budget deal Weds. The Senate is expected to complete work on the measure by this weekend.

November 2 - Debt Limit Deadline set by Treasury

~ Next week the House is expected to consider a long-term Surface Transportation bill

November 20 - Updated - Surface Transportation Authorization Expires

December 11 - Current CR expires. Note the budget deal resolved new top-line spending numbers and removed the threat of sequester, but the details still need to be filled in through appropriations.

December 31 - Tax Extenders Deadline

If you missed Speaker Boehner's farewell address you can read or watch it here. There is some really fun and interesting content worth checking out at Speaker.gov about John Andrew Boehner's service. Don't miss his "One Last Story" video. "A regular guy with a big job."

Let us know if you have any questions.

Armstrong Robinson, Director