Speaker of the House Paul Ryan(Photo: USAT)
WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Paul Ryan has a list -- a short list, to be sure -- of legislation that he thinks has a good chance of passing the Republican-controlled Congress and being signed by the Democratic president, even during this election year.
It's clear that the biggest proposals won't get enacted, from the GOP's goal of repealing the Affordable Care Act to President Obama's support of a comprehensive immigration bill.
But in an interview Wednesday with Capital Download, Ryan welcomed the offer by Obama in his State of the Union address to have a "serious discussion"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>about strategies to combat poverty. The president mentioned in particular "expanding tax cuts for low-income workers without kids."
The idea of expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit is something Ryan calls "good policy" and part of a larger discussion he wants to foster this year on poverty.
USA TODAY
Paul Ryan: Obama's State of the Union 'degrades the presidency'
"That's one area where I think we agree on," he told USA TODAY's video newsmaker series, saying it would encourage<span style="color: Red;">*</span>young adults to join the workforce. "We believe that is something that can help pull people out of poverty and pull people out of welfare, so I see that as sort of an antidote to not working and to deincentivizing work."
Still to be discussed, he said, were ways to reduce fraud in the tax program and to offset the costs of expanding it.
Ryan cited two other bills with bright prospects this year:
Obama mentioned both issues in passing in his address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night.
USA TODAY
Capital Download - Conversations with Washington's biggest newsmakers
Ryan wasn't optimistic about approval of the Pacific trade deal that is one of Obama's top priorities for the year, however.
"There are a lot of people who haven't decided one way or the other on it," he said, with concerns raised about some provisions dealing with intellectual property rights. "I don't know when that would pass or if it would pass."
The White House hasn't given up hopes on the trade pact. "There are a number of priorities the president wants to work on with Congress in the coming months," White House spokesman Eric Schultz told USA TODAY Wednesday. He said they include<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"many" that Ryan supports, "like approving the Trans-Pacific Partnership and rooting out poverty in this country."
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