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The 2017 Pension Political Power 25: Paul Ryan

No. 8 8. Paul Ryan

8. Paul Ryan
Speaker of the House

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan made his reputation as a deficit hawk. Any attempt to get pension legislation through Congress will be dead in the water without his backing. Given the Republican representative’s willingness to take the ax to veterans’ and federal employees’ pensions in recent years, more of the same is likely in store for the rest of the nation’s workers. The first test will be the position Ryan, 46, takes on a Donald Trump–backed Senate bill to restore pension benefits to thousands of coal miners, who overwhelmingly voted for Trump in states like Kentucky and West Virginia. So far, House Republicans have resisted efforts to shore up the miners’ pensions, which face insolvency. As chairman of the House Budget Committee in the early years of the Obama administration, Ryan headed a controversial bipartisan effort to slash $6 billion from military pensions. — Michelle Celarier


The 2017 Pension Political Power 25

1. Andy Puzder
Secretary of Labor
2. Bruce Rauner
Governor of Illinois
3. Betsy DeVos
Secretary of Education
4. Laura & John Arnold
Founders,
Laura and John Arnold Foundation
5. Steven Mnuchin
Secretary of the Treasury
6. Wilbur Ross
Secretary of Commerce
7. Tani Cantil-Sakauye
California Chief Justice
8. Paul Ryan
Speaker of the House
9. Anthony Scaramucci
Founder, SkyBridge Capital
10. Kevin de León
California State Senator and President Pro Tempore
11. Mike Enzi
Chairman, Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security
12. Steve Sweeney
President,
New Jersey State Senate
13. Jerry Brown
Governor of California
14. Corey Lewandowski
Co-founder, Avenue Strategies
15. Paul Singer
President,
Elliott Management Corp.
16. Randel Johnson
Senior Vice President, Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
17. Joe Manchin
U.S. Senator
18. Kenneth Feinberg
Founder and managingpartner, Feinberg Rozen
19. Scott Walker
Governor of Wisconsin
20. Richard Trumka
President, AFL-CIO
21. Mike Rawlings
Mayor of Dallas
22. Elizabeth Warren
U.S. Senator
23. Kent Mason
Partner,
Davis & Harman
24. Bernie Sanders
U.S. Senator
25. Randi Weingarten
President, American Federation of Teachers

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