Ryan Lauds a $1.50/Week Pay Hike, Quickly Regrets It

House Speaker Paul Ryan used Twitter to highlight a school secretary benefiting from the Republican tax overhaul, then deleted the tweet after online criticism that he is cheering an increase of $1.50 a week. The AP reported on Thursday that changes in tax withholding were sparking bigger paychecks, citing as one example Julia Ketchum of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, whose check went up $1.50 a week. She told the AP that the $78 a year would more than cover her Costco membership.

Ryan on Saturday posted a Tweet noting the secretary's increase and linking to the AP story—which was quickly met with mockery, notes the Washington Post, particularly among those comparing the size of Ketchum's windfall with that the nation's wealthy. Typical was Rep. Joe Kennedy III, who tweeted that, "Meanwhile the wealthiest 0.1% of Americans receive an extra ~ $3,000 per week," while a Post reporter notes that Ketchum's $78 a year is less than Ryan makes in an hour as speaker. Ryan has posted several other examples of worker pay increases and bonuses since the overhaul, some as much as $1,000. Ryan's spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

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