One of Paul Ryan's first official acts after conditionally accepting the House Speaker position was pledging he would not consider immigration reform legislation while President Obama was in office.
The Wisconsin Republican double down on his stance in a series of televised interview Sunday, repeatedly calling Obama untrustworthy on the issue.
"Look, I think it would be a ridiculous notion to try and work on an issue like this with a president we simply cannot trust on this issue," Ryan said in an interview with CBS's "Face the Nation." "He tried to go it alone, circumventing the legislative process with his executive orders, so that is not in the cards."
Ryan defending his position wasn't a surprise; days earlier he signed the House Freedom Caucus' letter agreeing to forego immigration reform efforts until 2017, when Obama leaves office. In his promise, the 2012 vice presidential nominee vowed not to allow an immigration bill to reach the Senate floor unless Republican lawmakers support it.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest, however, found it "ironic" that Ryan would vehemently oppose immigration talk after he helped write immigration reform legislation two year ago.
Ryan has supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants since the 1990s, though he's never gone as far as to call it amnesty. More often than not, Ryan sides with House GOP leaders in refusing to take up immigration legislation and cites the need to secure the U.S.-Mexico border as a priority.
"It's a little hard for him to make the claim that somehow the president hasn't acted in good faith on immigration when Speaker Ryan actively thwarted a compromise he himself helped to broker," Earnest said on Monday. "And then for him to come back and claim it's somebody else's fault? It's preposterous."
Earnest went on to say the new speaker's comments don't bode well in a "new era of Republican leadership."
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
