Republican Rep. Paul Ryan won re-election on Tuesday as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives when the lawmakers convened for the 115th session of the Congress.

Only one Republican member defected and voted for Rep. Daniel Webster.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Speaker was first elected on Oct. 29, 2015.

Ryan was re-elected by the House Republican caucus in November 2016 to serve a second term as Speaker of the House.

On the Democratic side, Nancy Pelosi was re-elected Minority Leader with only four of her colleagues voting for someone else for the top Democratic position.

Ryan is expected to address the 115th Congress.

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Also, Like us on facebook </s> WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) -Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has been re-elected to serve as the speaker of the House of Representatives.

The 46-year-old Ryan will serve his first full term as speaker after succeeding John Boehner in October of 2015.

Ryan will lead the GOP charge to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature health insurance law and cut taxes and regulation.

“So I want to say to the American people: we hear you, we will do right by you and we will deliver,” Ryan said on the House floor.

Democrat Representative Nancy Pelosi of California was voted to be the minority speaker. </s> Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has been re-elected to serve as speaker of the House of Representatives during the 115th Congress, gaining 239 votes.

Ryan, 46, will serve his first full term as speaker after succeeding John Boehner in October 2015. Tuesday's vote comes with little of the drama that accompanied Boehner's election two years ago when 25 House Republicans voted for someone other than Boehner.

Ryan will lead the GOP charge to repeal President Barack Obama's signature health insurance law and cut taxes and regulation.

Democrats nominated Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California for speaker. She received 189 votes and will serve as House minority leader. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio gained two votes, while Reps. Jim Cooper of Tennessee, John Lewis of Georgia and Daniel Webster each gained a vote. </s> Republican Rep. Paul Ryan was on Tuesday sworn-in as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives after winning his re-election when the lawmakers convened for the 115th session of the Congress. The Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who monitored the election on network, reports that only one Republican member defected and voted…

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Also, Like us on facebook </s> Rep. Paul Ryan was reelected House speaker of the 115th Congress. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO Paul Ryan easily wins reelection as speaker of the House

House Republicans overwhelmingly reelected Paul Ryan on Tuesday to another term as speaker of the House. Only one — Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — voted against him.

It’s the first full term for Ryan, who took the gavel from his predecessor John Boehner in late 2015. And the near-unanimous support of the Republican caucus is a symbolic milestone for a House GOP that has long been bitterly divided along ideological lines. But the election of Donald Trump, who at times has feuded with Ryan, undercut a band of hardline conservatives strategizing to replace him.

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Ryan will take control of a slightly smaller Republican caucus — Democrats netted six seats in the November elections — but one still firmly in control of the chamber, holding a 241- to 194-seat edge.

Massie, the lone anti-Ryan vote, cast his ballot for Florida Republican Daniel Webster.

On the other side of the aisle, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi saw four defections in her own caucus: Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) voted for fellow Ohio Democrat Tim Ryan, and Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wisc.) voted for Cooper. Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-New York) also voted for Tim Ryan, and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) voted for Rep. John Lewis.

Paul Ryan will begin his term helping the incoming Trump administration shepherd through its early priorities. He spent the day ahead of the speakership vote defusing a controversy over a late Monday decision by House Republicans to weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics. Amid pressure from Ryan, Trump and a public backlash, House Republicans agreed to pull their proposal and consider it later in the year. </s> YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan has lost his bid to unseat Nancy Pelosi as the leader of Democrats in the House of Representatives.

Ryan received 63 votes to Pelosi’s , according to news accounts. If that total is correct, Pelosi succeeded in winning support of two thirds of the Democratic caucus, which she predicted she would.

In seeking to become minority leader, and provide new leadership for the party, Ryan focused on the Democratic Party’s failure to deliver blue-collar voters to Hillary Clinton on Nov. 8th, and to congressional candidates who lost their contests. He also proposed a number of changes in the structure of the House Democratic Caucus le, which would provide openings for younger members to work into leadership positions.

The Mahoning Valley congressman has scheduled a conference call with local reporters for 2 p.m. today. </s> WASHINGTON — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday won the race to lead the Democratic caucus for an eighth term, prevailing in a contest that became a vote of confidence in her continued stewardship and an early proxy battle over the future of the Democratic Party.

The Californian easily toppled Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, a seven-term lawmaker who launched an upstart bid to lead House Democrats two weeks ago in response to the party’s disappointing November election results.

After 14 undistinguished years in Congress, Ryan emerged from the backbench — he literally sits in the last bench in the chamber — as a vessel of discontent and forced Pelosi to fight for the top spot like never before. It’s prompted her to offer structural changes to leadership and more opportunity to the burgeoning crop of junior lawmakers who have never served in the majority.

Pelosi vowed to expand the number of seats at the leadership table to stave off defections and leave her firmly in charge of a caucus ruled by an “iron fist,” as Senate counterpart, Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, once described her leadership style.

There are 194 members of the House Democratic caucus, and four nonvoting delegates are allowed to vote in caucus elections. On Wednesday, 197 of the 198 members showed up. Pelosi won with 134 votes, compared to 63 votes for Ryan in a secret-ballot election held in the august committee room of the House Ways and Means Committee.

“We got the message out that we wanted to get out. … We’re going to win as Democrats if we have an economic message that resonates in every part of the country,” Ryan told reporters after his defeat.

“We disappointed because I like to win. … But the party is better off,” he added.

Ryan was flanked by some of his closest supporters, Reps. Sean Moulton, D-Massachusetts, Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, Stephen Lynch, D-Massachusetts, Ed Perlmutter, D-Colorado, Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, and Dan Lipinski, D-Illinois.

Another Ryan supporter, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona, said she was “disappointed” that House Democrats “decided to double down on its failed strategy of recent years.”

“This should be a time of critical reflection and clear-eyed change, not a time to rubber stamp the failed strategy of the past,” she said in a statement.

Pelosi was expected to address reporters later on Wednesday.

She had set the expectations bar high by publicly declaring she has “more than two-thirds” of the votes locked up. She cleared that threshold on Wednesday, but Ryan’s 63 votes was the highest margin of rejection Pelosi has ever faced.

His supporters believed that the closer Ryan got to between 60 and 80 votes, the more direct the signal to Pelosi that the rank-and-file is ready for her to develop a transition-of-power plan. At 76, she’s one of three septuagenarians leading the caucus, followed by 77-year-old Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, the minority whip; and 76-year-old Rep. James Clyburn, D-South Carolina, the assistant to the leader.

Hoyer and Clyburn were unchallenged Wednesday and are expected to be easily re-elected.

In the days before the vote, Ryan railed against Pelosi and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign for failing to connect with voters in economically distressed parts of the country.

Pelosi tried to placate some of the angst among junior lawmakers by offering a series of new or modified positions, including the new position of “vice-ranking member” on the more than 20 standing House committees and reserving it for lawmakers who served four terms or less. A policy leadership position would be divided into three co-chairmen and reserved for those who have served five terms or less.

Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, credited Ryan’s challenge with forcing Pelosi to take the unrest among colleagues more seriously.

“That’s partly a response to the competition in the caucus for votes, and that’s a healthy thing,” he said.

Others remain upset at Pelosi’s control of the House campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She has proposed leaving Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-New Mexico, as DCCC chairman for another term, despite 2016 elections that saw just a six-seat gain after Pelosi personally predicted a gain of more than 20 seats.

“We should have been recruiting earlier, we should have better targeting. I think our messaging was off,” Gallego said in an interview on Tuesday. “I think we are focused so much still on TV instead of looking at new methods of communications and/or even old methods of communication — canvassing and digital buys.”

A 37-year old former Marine corporal, Gallego was especially critical of what he considered the DCCC’s staff work trying to please Pelosi, calling them “bureaucratic in nature.”

Some Democrats want the position to be contested rather than rubber stamp of whoever top Democrats select.

Pelosi’s backers reminded detractors that House Democrats are now in a “comeback situation” without a Democratic president in office — a dynamic similar to 2000 when Bush took office after a fiercely partisan, closely contested election. Over six years, Pelosi served as Bush’s main partisan foil and ultimately led a campaign that regained House control.

Supporters also acknowledged, however, that after 14 years atop the party, Pelosi is nearing her political twilight.

“This is probably her last go,” said one member who requested anonymity to speak frankly about caucus dynamics. “She’s coming to terms with the idea that people want her to move on. The opposition is so public now and I only see that growing, not diminishing.”

The prospect of Pelosi’s departure and the likely demise of Hoyer and Clyburn, would create an incredible leadership vacuum.

But in a few years, “I don’t see an 80-year old new minority leader,” the member said.

The Washington Post’s Mike DeBonis contributed to this report. </s> House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday won the race to lead the Democratic caucus for an eighth term, prevailing in a contest that became a vote of confidence in her continued stewardship and an early proxy battle over the future of the Democratic Party.

The Californian easily toppled Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, a seven-term lawmaker who launched an upstart bid to lead House Democrats two weeks ago in response to the party's disappointing November election results.

But Pelosi's margin of victory, 134 votes to 63 for Ryan, signaled a large degree of discontent with her continued leadership after 14 years atop the caucus and, more broadly, with the Democratic policy agenda that many lawmakers feel has grown stale.

While she cleared her self-declared margin of victory, a two-thirds majority, many Democrats were stunned that almost a third of the caucus was willing to vote for a back-bench lawmaker with no major policy or political experience.

Many were left wondering whether a more seasoned Democrat could have actually toppled Pelosi, with several privately suggesting this would have to be Pelosi's last term as leader. Ryan's 63 votes marked the largest number of opposition votes Pelosi has faced in any leadership race since winning a deputy leadership position 15 years ago that set her on a course to become the first female House speaker.

Though they came up well short, Ryan and his band of supporters declared a symbolic victory in prompting Pelosi to make a series of proposals to elevate junior lawmakers and lead a more inclusive leadership table. They also declared that the party's economic agenda, at times ignored by their presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, and other Democrats, would move to the front and center to appeal across the country alongside the cultural issues that dominated the campaign.

"We're going to win as Democrats if we have an economic message that resonates in every part of the country," Ryan told reporters after his defeat. "We are disappointed because I like to win . . . But the party is better off," he added.

An hour later, Pelosi appeared and publicly congratulated Ryan on running a good race. But, she said, "I think we're at a time that is well beyond politics. It's about the character of America.

After gaining just six seats in the November elections -- after Pelosi publicly and privately suggested a gain of more than 20 -- there will be 194 members of the House Democratic caucus. Four nonvoting delegates, including Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., were allowed to vote in Wednesday's caucus elections.

Pelosi had set the expectations bar high by publicly declaring she has "more than two-thirds" of the votes locked up. She cleared that threshold on Wednesday, but Ryan's tally will not go unnoticed.

His supporters believed that the closer Ryan got to between 60 and 80 votes, the more direct the signal to Pelosi that the rank-and-file is ready for her to develop a transition-of-power plan. At 76, she's one of three septuagenarians leading the caucus, followed by 77-year-old Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the minority whip; and 76-year-old Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the assistant to the leader.

Hoyer and Clyburn were unchallenged on Wednesday.

Republicans, who have vilified Pelosi in the past, believing that her West Coast liberalism does not translate into political victories. Party leaders were so gleeful that the National Republican Congressional Committee immediately hung a "Congrats Nancy!" poster atop a "Hire Pelosi" banner that has been affixed to Republican National Committee headquarters this week.

Pelosi tried to placate some of the angst among junior lawmakers by offering a series of new or modified positions, including the new position of "vice-ranking member" on the more than 20 standing House committees and reserving it for lawmakers who served four terms or less. A policy leadership position would be divided into three co-chairmen and reserved for those who have served five terms or less.

Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-Texas, credited Ryan's challenge with forcing Pelosi to take the unrest among colleagues more seriously.

"That's partly a response to the competition in the caucus for votes, and that's a healthy thing," he said.

Others remain upset at Pelosi's control of the House campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She has proposed leaving Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., as DCCC chairman for another term, despite 2016 elections that saw just a six-seat gain after Pelosi personally predicted a gain of more than 20 seats.

"We should have been recruiting earlier, we should have better targeting. I think our messaging was off," Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said in an interview on Tuesday. "I think we are focused so much still on TV instead of looking at new methods of communications and/or even old methods of communication - canvassing and digital buys."

A 37-year old former Marine corporal, Gallego was especially critical of what he considered the DCCC's staff work trying to please Pelosi, calling them "bureaucratic in nature."

Some Democrats want the position to be contested rather than be a rubber stamp of whoever top Democrats select.

Pelosi's backers reminded detractors that House Democrats are now in a "comeback situation" without a Democratic president in office - a dynamic similar to 2000 when Bush took office after a fiercely partisan, closely contested election. Over six years, Pelosi served as Bush's main partisan foil and ultimately led a campaign that regained House control.

Supporters also acknowledged, however, that after 14 years atop the party, Pelosi is nearing her political twilight.

"This is probably her last go," said one member who requested anonymity to speak frankly about caucus dynamics. "She's coming to terms with the idea that people want her to move on. The opposition is so public now, and I only see that growing, not diminishing."

The prospect of Pelosi's departure and the likely exit of Hoyer and Clyburn, would create an incredible leadership vacuum.

But in a few years, "I don't see an 80-year old new minority leader," the member said.

The Washington Post's Mike DeBonis contributed to this report. </s> WASHINGTON — House Democrats have re-elected Nancy Pelosi as their leader.

The California lawmaker, who has led the party since 2002, turned back a challenge from Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan on Wednesday.

Her win came despite disenchantment among some in the Democratic caucus over the party’s disappointing performance in the elections earlier this month. Democrats will remain in the minority in the House and Senate next year and won’t have the presidency as a bulwark against Republicans.

Democrats were also choosing other leaders during the closed-door session that was expected to take several hours.
The House GOP caucus overwhelmingly re-elects Paul Ryan to another term as House Speaker.