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Cathy McMorris Rodgers Nominates Paul Ryan for Speaker of the House

October 29, 2015

After Rep. John Boehner (R., Ohio) officially announced his resignation as Speaker of the House and as a representative of Ohio on the House floor, he recognized Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., Wash.) McMorris Rodgers then nominated Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) to be elected for the position. Below are her full nomination remarks.

Mr. Speaker, today in the people's house it gives me great honor to nominate the people's speaker. You don't need to look any further then the architecture of Washington, D.C. to see what our founders envisioned. It's not by mistake that the dome over the Congress is the very center of the federal city. The White House and the Supreme Court are set about us, satellites to the supreme power of the people expressed in this legislative body.

In the House, we are eager for a fresh start that will make us more effective fulfill our obligation to reflect the will of the people and to reestablish the balance of power. And there is no better person to lead us in that calling than the man that I am about to nominate. He was first elected to the House at the ripe old age of 28 and has served here now for almost 17 years. We all remember when he led the House Budget Committee, the visionary budget proposals, the lengthy debates, and who could forget those Power Points. He's now the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee but he's more than a chairman to us, he's more than a colleague, he's our friend. He's a leader and through it all he's never forgotten his roots. He lives on the same block that he grew up on in Janesville, Wisconsin.

There is no place he would rather be than at home with his family. He will continue to put the people of this country first and I can say in all candor he did not seek this office, the office sought him. As chair of the House Republican Conference, I am directed by the vote of that conference to present for election for the office of Speaker to the House of Representatives for the 114th Congress, the representative for the state of Wisconsin, the man from Janesville, the honorable Paul D. Ryan.