If Hillary Clinton wins the White House and Paul Ryan remains the speaker of the House, insiders fear any sort of bipartisan cooperation could fall by the wayside due to the prospect of their likely battle for the presidency in 2020, Politico reports.
Both Clinton and Ryan insiders, who are currently drafting their respective agendas for next year, say that the dynamic between the two could determine whether any actual lawmaking happens.
But even if they get along on a personal level and have the best of intentions, many foresee it as unlikely that a first-term chief executive with an eye on getting re-elected and a speaker who wants to run in the next presidential election would want to share any credit for legislative progress with their 2020 rival.
Even though Ryan might want to show that he can pass bills, he would find it politically difficult to keep the Freedom Caucus in check if moderate Republicans are weakened, the insiders said. That would be even more the case if Clinton believes she must please the progressive branch of her party that showed such enthusiasm for Bernie Sanders during the primaries.
"Paul's the kind of guy who wants to get things done, but when you talk about 'things,' what does 'things' mean?" a source close to Ryan told Politico. "That's when it gets a little stickier [especially when you get into the details of an issue]. He has no interest in implementing her Bernie Sanders-esque agenda."
However, not everyone was negative. Democratic strategist David Goodfriend told CNBC that he could see Clinton and Ryan making deals, especially in the first 100 days of the administration and particularly on issues such as infrastructure that Clinton has said she would focus on as president.
And Clinton insiders told Politico that her transition team is trying to figure out how to build trust with Ryan so that meaningful legislation can be passed, saying she will come into office with more relationships in Congress than President Barack Obama had and a mindset more prone to reaching understandings.
Some Ryan allies such as Wisc. Rep. Reid Ribble were also optimistic, saying if Clinton "governs at all like her husband did when he was in office, there may be an opportunity to do some of these things."
Miguel Rodriguez, who was an aide to Clinton and later Obama's legislative affairs director, told Politico, "It certainly won't be easy, but the Framers intended divided government to be hard."
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