Ryan elected House speaker as Republicans try to halt chaos

Planned Parenthood

The Freedom Caucus's push to shut down the government rather than continue funding Planned Parenthood, the women's health provider whose services include abortion, played a major role in pushing Boehner, 65, to announce he would resign. Revolts by conservatives led to a 16-day partial government shutdown in 2013, and the U.S. neared the brink of default in 2011 and 2013 as conservatives battled to attach policy changes to a debt-limit increase.

When he decided to run, Ryan told fellow Republicans he wanted them to unify behind him, end leadership crises and let him continue spending time with his family. Ryan said he didn't want to spend weekends away from his wife and children for the extensive travel and fundraising that are part of the speaker's job.

One thing that might come back to haunt him is his promise to Freedom Caucus members to follow an informal Republican policy allowing legislation to reach the floor only if most party members support it.

That would rule out, for example, the budget plan passed Wednesday with the support of 187 Democrats and just 79 Republicans. One-hundred sixty-seven Republicans voted no. Ryan voted for the bipartisan budget deal even though he said the secret process in which party leaders negotiated it "stinks."

'So-called rule'

"The approach that they would take would never have allowed this bipartisan budget deal to come to the floor," Pelosi, a California Democrat, said after Wednesday's vote. "I hope that the speaker will not be constrained by this so-called rule."

Boehner had to rely on Democratic votes a number of other times to finance the government or get other must-pass bills through the House.

Ryan also said he wanted to make it harder to remove the speaker through a process known as a motion to vacate the chair. Freedom Caucus members' threat to try to remove Boehner last month led to his Sept. 25 announcement that he would give up the job. Freedom Caucus members didn't back Ryan's proposal to change the process, and it's unclear so far whether any revision will be made.

Ryan's political trajectory has been upward in a Congress based on seniority. In college, he interned for U.S. Sen. Bob Kasten and spent time as a Capitol Hill staffer. Elected to the House in 1998 at age 28, this year he became the youngest chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee since 1861.

Budget committee

He forged a reputation as a no-nonsense legislator guarding against what he deemed excessive spending. During four years as Budget Committee chairman, Ryan proposed repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), cutting business tax rates, ending the estate tax and consolidating programs for low-income households.

He sought to overhaul Medicare, the health program for seniors, by giving future recipients a fixed amount of money to buy insurance. Democrats say his plans would shred the social safety net.

See also: In Florida, Medicare Is Not a Senior-Only Issue

He also has supported allowing 11 million undocumented immigrants to eventually become U.S. citizens, a stance backed by most Democrats and passed in a bipartisan 2013 Senate vote but strongly opposed by most House Republicans. Freedom Caucus members said he promised them he wouldn't hold a vote on major immigration legislation while President Barack Obama remains in office.

—With assistance from Terrence Dopp and Kathleen Miller in Washington.