Paul Ryan

WASHINGTON — Retiring House Speaker Paul Ryan decried the outrage and bitterness that he said now color American politics in a farewell speech that also acknowledged his inability to achieve two top goals: controlling surging federal debt and reining in Medicare and other mammoth benefit programs.

“Our complex problems are absolutely solvable,” Ryan said at the Library of Congress, across the street from the U.S. Capitol, where he’s ending two decades in the House. “That is to say our problems are solvable if our politics will allow it.”

The Wisconsin Republican’s half-hour address, which touted achievements and admits shortcomings, came as he ends his three-year run as speaker. Despite GOP control of the White House and Congress the past two years, it’s been a remarkably tumultuous period dominated by the erratic decision-making and verbal outbursts of President Donald Trump and Republican divisions over top issues like health care and immigration.

Underscoring the chaos Ryan was leaving behind, Congress was spending its waning hours before adjournment trying to prevent a partial government shutdown as Trump clashed with Democrats over his desire for taxpayer money to build a border wall with Mexico.

Ryan’s departure comes six weeks after an Election Day that saw Democrats capture House control. Their triumph followed a campaign in which they pummeled Republicans for trying to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s popular health care law, a primary GOP priority.

Ryan never explicitly mentioned Trump in his remarks. But he bemoaned the divisiveness that has been a hallmark of Trump’s style.