Paul Ryan's retirement means the season for legislating is now officially over

This week, the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan (R-WI), announced that he would be handing in his gavel at year's end and would not run for reelection. Michele L. Swers writes that before becoming Speaker, Ryan was a well-respected conservative in pursuit of budgetary reform. In a job that he only took reluctantly, his ability to legislate effectively as Speaker has been stymied not only by divisions within Congressional Republicans, but by a President whose agenda has departed greatly from Ryan’s own vision of conservative leadership.