Paul Ryan Defends Compromise in Passing Spending Deal

Speaker Paul D. Ryan said on Sunday that, through compromise, Republicans had advanced key priorities since he took office just a month and a half ago and readied themselves to reopen contentious fights over the Affordable Care Act and funding for Planned Parenthood when Congress returns early next year.

Sounding optimistic after the passage of a $1.8 trillion spending and tax cut package on Friday, Mr. Ryan acknowledged that divided government means that Republicans were not in a position to achieve all their goals, but had succeeded in bringing relief to American taxpayers and business owners.

“We fought for as much as we could get,” Mr. Ryan said in an interview aired on the NBC News program “Meet the Press.” “We advanced our priorities and principles. Not every single one of them, but many of them. And then we’re going to pick up next year and pick up where we left off and keep going for more.”

Mr. Ryan praised several measures in the omnibus spending package, including the end to a 40-year ban on crude oil exports, cuts in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and billions of dollars in tax breaks. He also praised his colleagues for passing a multiyear highway funding bill and another to replace No Child Left Behind, a 2002 law that had given the federal government a greater role in primary and secondary education.

And while congressional Democrats and the White House claimed victory last week for stalling Republican legislative efforts to cut funding for Planned Parenthood and dismantle the Affordable Care Act, Mr. Ryan said those issues will be atop the Republican Party’s agenda when the House returns from recess in January.

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