“When you question this war on poverty, you get all the criticisms from adherents to the status quo who just don't want to see anything change. We got to have the courage to face that down, just as we did in the welfare reform of the late 1990s, and if we succeeded, we can help resuscitate this culture and get people back to work.”

American former politician

Paul Davis Ryan is an American former politician. He served as the 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019, and represented Wisconsin's 1st congressional district from 1999 to 2019. A Republican, he was also his party's vice presidential nominee in the 2012 presidential election, running alongside Mitt Romney. He is known for his long tenure in Congress and for holding one of the highest offices in the House.