To Take Lamar Smith at his word...

"Whoever falsely boasts of giving
Is like clouds and wind without rain."
Proverbs 25:14

Last month, we asked Congressman Lamar Smith the following question:



Earlier in the same event, Smith had made a prediction about Paul Ryan's speakership:



Obviously, those days are not over, as Breitbart explains:

[U.S.] House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) relied on Democrats to pass the $1 trillion dollar omnibus bill.

Most of the votes for the massive bill came from Democratic members of Congress rather than Republicans.

In the House, the Omnibus bill passed 316-113, with 150 Republicans voting yes and 166 Democrats voting yes.

....

But Ryan has tried to paint the budget as a victory for conservatives.

Ryan boasted this week on the Michael Medved show that the Omnibus bill lifted the ban on oil exports arguing that it’s “something we’ve been trying to do for 40 years in this country.” He added, “Think of what we get by removing the ban.”

However, in exchange for this lift, Democrats were able to put many liberal policies in the Omnibus bill, which explains why they ended up providing the necessary votes for the measure’s passage.

On Thursday, Pelosi bragged to her colleagues about all of the additional policy directives Democrats were able to put into the bill, saying, “Republicans’ desperate thirst for lifting the oil export ban empowered Democrats to win significant concessions throughout the Omnibus, including ridding the bill of scores of deeply destructive poison pill riders.”

That Lamar Smith personally voted against the bill is irrelevant; Lamar Smith voted for the "leadership" that used Joe Straus' playbook passed a bill written by lobbyists via Democrat votes that "gave away the store" to Democrats.

Bottom Line: Just last month, Lamar Smith told us Paul Ryan's ascendance meant the era of phony fiscal crises' was over.  That hasn't happened.  We'll see how the thirty year incumbent treats Paul Ryan between now and election day....