Explaining his decision to his Republican colleagues Wednesday morning at a meeting in the Capitol, a subdued Mr. Ryan said he wanted to spend more time with his children, who live in the same town where the speaker grew up.
He pledged that he would help fellow Republicans extensively in the 2018 campaign and said he would continue raising money at a powerful pace, according to two lawmakers in the room. Mr. Ryan has become the party’s most important fund-raiser in the House and Republicans have been counting on him to help them collect and spend tens of millions of dollars defending their majority this fall.
He pointed to the recently enacted overhaul of the tax code and increased military spending as his signal accomplishments.
Growing emotional at points, Mr. Ryan said family considerations weighed heavily on his retirement, explaining that his daughter was 13 when he became speaker and he did not want to be a remote figure in her teenage years.
“The truth is, it is easy for it to take over everything in your life and you can’t just let that happen because there are other things in life that can be fleeting as well: Namely your time as a husband and a father,” he told reporters.
But he has also been forced to answer for a constant stream of provocations and slights from President Trump, and his retirement announcement was no exception. Asked what should be done if the president has the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, fired, he answered, “I have no reason to believe that is going to happen. I’ve been talking to people in the White House about it.”
Representative Charlie Dent, a moderate Republican from Pennsylvania who is also retiring, noted the difficulty of Mr. Ryan’s position.
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“We can all read between the lines,” Mr. Dent said. “This is not an easy administration to be dealing with.”
Mr. Ryan has been publicly noncommittal for months about running for re-election, repeating a formulation that he was not going anywhere any time soon. At the retreat in Austin, Tex., Mr. Ryan was opaque about his plans for 2018, saying that he and his wife, Janna, would confer in the coming weeks to make a decision, according to two people who attended the gathering.
But some in the audience found that unconvincing, and some party strategists indicated that his refusal to commit to running again was offering an excuse to donors to withhold from giving to House campaign efforts.
Mr. Ryan said he had considered the effect his retirement would have on other lawmakers seeking re-election, but said his decision to retire was not based on signs of a growing Democratic wave.
“If we do our job, as we are, we are going to be fine as a majority,” he said.
Back in his Southeastern Wisconsin district, Mr. Ryan was facing a spirited challenge from two Democrats, Randy Bryce, better known by his Twitter handle, “Iron Stache,” and a schoolteacher, Cathy Myers. On his right flank, an avowed anti-Semite, Paul Nehlen, was making another run at the Republican nomination — and earning a national following among white supremacists.
Mr. Ryan is by far the most prominent figure fleeing Congress in a long season of Republican retirements. More than 40 House Republicans are leaving the chamber to retire or seek other offices, including a number who have voiced concern about the 2018 elections and intense dissatisfaction with the state of Washington under Mr. Trump. Several others have resigned in personal scandals.
The exodus has further endangered Republicans’ already tenuous hold on Congress, creating open seats in states like New Jersey and California that Republicans will struggle to hold. Republicans acknowledged on Wednesday morning that Mr. Ryan’s seat will be far more vulnerable without the speaker on the ballot.
Mr. Trump offered well-wishes on Twitter ahead of a planned dinner with Republican congressional leaders at the White House Wednesday evening.
Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question. We are with you Paul!
Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader who longs to return to the speakership, was faint with her praise.
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“The Speaker has been an avid advocate for his point of view and for the people of his district,” she said in a statement. “Despite our differences, I commend his steadfast commitment to our country.”
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, urged Mr. Ryan to use his last months as speaker to work toward bipartisan compromises.
“With his newfound political freedom, I hope the Speaker uses his remaining time in Congress to break free from the hard-right factions of his caucus that have kept Congress from getting real things done,” he said. “If he’s willing to reach across the aisle, he’ll find Democrats willing and eager to work with him.”
Meantime, the scramble to succeed Mr. Ryan atop the Republican conference — if not the House majority — could prove intense. Mr. McCarthy made a run at the speakership after then-Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio announced his retirement but fell flat. Mr. Scalise will be a sentimental favorite after surviving a near-death shooting at a congressional baseball practice. But his ascent would signal another Republican turn to the right.
“I think everybody will start jockeying for position immediately,” said Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina, the chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus. “They won’t wait for nine months.”
The speaker made the decision over the spring congressional recess, a period during which he took his family on a vacation to Austria. Mr. Ryan has been frustrated with the seemingly unending tensions in his conference between conservative hard-liners and mainstream Republicans and the unpredictable Mr. Trump, whose recent tilt toward imposing tariffs and inviting a trade war is anathema to the free market-oriented speaker.
Mr. Ryan, who told his staff about his decision at an early-morning meeting, indicated to advisers that he knows retiring will create political difficulties for the party but that he felt he could not in good conscience commit to another full two-year term.
Yet that is of little comfort to those Republicans on the ballot this year who were expecting Mr. Ryan to campaign with lawmakers across the country. Even though he vowed to keep fulfilling his political responsibilities, he will not be nearly the draw as a lame duck. And with the filing period yet to pass in 19 states, it is now virtually impossible for Mr. Ryan to convince other lawmakers that they must run again.
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“This is the nightmare scenario,” said former Representative Thomas M. Davis, a Virginia Republican. “Everybody figured he’d just hang in there till after the election.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) gave birth Monday to a baby girl, the first time a sitting senator has delivered a child and one of just 10 female lawmakers to bear a child while serving in Congress.
Duckworth, 50, and her husband, Bryan Bowlsbey, named their daughter Maile Pearl Bowlsbey after Bowlsbey’s great-aunt. Pearl Bowlsbey Johnson was an Army nurse during World War II. Duckworth is a double amputee who, as an Army helicopter pilot in the Iraq War, was shot down in 2006. The senator said that she and her husband consulted with former senator Daniel K. Akaka of Hawaii, who died last week, about the choice of name, just as they did with the birth of their first daughter, Abigail, four years ago.
Duckworth spent part of her childhood in Hawaii, and after her military service she became active in veterans issues at the state and federal level. Akaka served as chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
“Bryan, Abigail and I couldn’t be happier to welcome little Maile Pearl as the newest addition to our family, and we’re deeply honored that our good friend Sen. Akaka was able to bless her name for us — his help in naming both of our daughters means he will always be with us,” Duckworth said in a statement Monday.
She said that being a parent of small children while serving in Congress gives her a perspective that is often missing in debates on federal policy about families and child care. “Parenthood isn’t just a women’s issue; it’s an economic issue and one that affects all parents — men and women alike,” she said. “As tough as juggling the demands of motherhood and being a senator can be, I’m hardly alone or unique as a working parent.”
— Paul Kane
MICHIGAN
A deal was announced Monday to get more health screenings and education services to thousands of children who were exposed to lead in Flint’s drinking water.
Families will be encouraged to get children signed up on a registry, which will lead to tests and screenings to determine any unique education needs. The agreement partly settles a federal lawsuit against the state of Michigan, the Flint school district and a regional education agency.
Participation will be voluntary, but more than 25,000 people could be eligible, including some young adults who haven’t graduated from high school, said attorney Greg Little of the Pennsylvania-based Education Law Center, who is leading a legal team that includes the American Civil Liberties Union.
The state will provide $4.1 million to get the program started by the fall, although the money still must be approved by Michigan lawmakers.
Lead-tainted water flowed in Flint for 18 months before a disaster was declared in 2015. The corrosive water wasn’t properly treated before it moved through old plumbing.
There is no safe lead level in the human body. It can cause behavior problems and a lower IQ.
Little said certain education services are guaranteed under federal law once a special need has been identified.
Mona Hanna-Attisha, who helped expose Flint’s lead issue in 2015, said lead can’t directly be linked to every development problem in children.
“But the sooner you identify an issue, the better the outcomes,” she said.
— Associated Press
FLORIDA
A Florida police officer has been reassigned after he appeared to suggest on social media that a school shooting that left 17 people dead was a hoax.
North Miami Beach police announced Monday that Officer Ericson Harrell was placed on administrative duty with pay pending an internal review.
The Sun Sentinel first reported that a March 29 Facebook post under Harrell’s name asked, “What proof do you have?”
The post was referring to the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
Another post under his name on March 22 referred to five of the school’s students featured on a Time magazine cover as “ALL PAID ACTORS/ACTRESSES!!”
