--- title: Read Paul Ryan's Speech on the State of American Politics description: Here is the full transcript. canonical: https://time.com/4269260/paul-ryan-speech-donald-trump-politics-transcript/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-23T15:54:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:18.812Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Paul Ryan's Speech on the State of American Politics og:description: Here is the full transcript. og:url: https://time.com/4269260/paul-ryan-speech-donald-trump-politics-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0eb87a76dec54cb/69888c2c0b72e302506e8a52/paul-ryan2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ryan GOP Leaders Address Press After Republican Conference Meeting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Paul Ryan's Speech on the State of American Politics twitter:description: Here is the full transcript. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0eb87a76dec54cb/69888c2c0b72e302506e8a52/paul-ryan2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Paul Ryan's Speech on the State of American Politics by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 23, 2016 3:54 PM UTC  Paul Ryan speaks to the media after closed-door meeting with House Republicans, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, on March 1, 2016. Paul Ryan speaks to the media after closed-door meeting with House Republicans, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, on March 1, 2016.Drew Angerer—Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 23, 2016 3:54 PM UTC House Speaker Paul Ryan gave a speech on the state of American politics Wednesday, reflecting on some of his own past rhetoric and policy positions. Here is the full text of the speech, as prepared. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4269260/paul-ryan-speech-donald-trump-politics-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4269260/paul-ryan-speech-donald-trump-politics-transcript/"},"headline":"Read Paul Ryan's Speech on the State of American Politics","datePublished":"2016-03-23T15:54:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:18.812Z","description":"Here is the full transcript.","url":"https://time.com/4269260/paul-ryan-speech-donald-trump-politics-transcript/","keywords":["Paul Ryan","2016 Election","Congress","White House","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0eb87a76dec54cb/69888c2c0b72e302506e8a52/paul-ryan2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0eb87a76dec54cb/69888c2c0b72e302506e8a52/paul-ryan2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ryan GOP Leaders Address Press After Republican Conference Meeting","caption":"Ryan GOP Leaders Address Press After Republican Conference Meeting","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/paul-ryan/","name":"Paul Ryan"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4269260/paul-ryan-speech-donald-trump-politics-transcript/","name":"Read Paul Ryan's Speech on the State of American Politics"}}]}] ```