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Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) officially announced his bid for House speaker Thursday, yielding to pleas from across the Republican party that he step in and lead in a time of crisis. ... House Republicans continued to coalesce behind Thursday as two influential GOP blocs threw him their support. (Costa and Debonis, 10/22)

Risks loom large for the boyish Wisconsin congressman, who until recently had enjoyed a lengthy run as a popular GOP figure, but who nevertheless failed to secure all the conditions he demanded as trade-offs for taking the leadership job. Instead, Ryan now appears willing to settle for less than full-throated support from the conservative base as he tries to steer the GOP away from dysfunction and redefine the speaker's office -- a potential career-killer for someone with presidential aspirations -- on his terms. ...Ryan has always done well as the party's deep thinker, the architect of the steep austerity cuts to Medicare and other safety net programs in the GOP budget. (Mascaro, 10/22)

The race to replace Paul Ryan as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee is on and it is shaping up to be a two-man battle between Republican Reps. Kevin Brady and Pat Tiberi. ... Brady, who chairs the panel’s health subcommittee, is a conservative who is viewed as an effective member of the committee and takes policy issues seriously. ... Tiberi, who chairs the trade subcommittee, is an Ohio moderate with close ties to outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the business community, which has helped him with fundraising. ... The next chairman will have to work closely with Ryan, who has made overhauling the tax code and entitlement programs the cornerstone of his career. (Snell, 10/22)

Congress has a debt-ceiling problem again. A big one. House GOP leaders initially planned to vote on a red-meat proposal Friday pitched by the Republican Study Committee to increase the debt ceiling while imposing new limits on executive-branch power. That measure stood no chance of passing the Senate, but would at least show effort. ... Boehner is still trying to hammer out a broader budget deal with the White House that would boost defense and infrastructure spending while making offsetting cuts in entitlement programs. But Obama is playing a strong hand and has refused to make any major concessions. (Bresnahan and Sherman, 10/22)

[Antonio Weiss, the Treasury Department’s point person on Puerto Rico] outlined a series of actions that the administration wanted Congress to consider to help Puerto Rico, which has been suffering through a decade-long recession and is buried under $73 billion in debt. He said lawmakers should create a new class of bankruptcy only available to U.S. territories that would allow Puerto Rico to restructure all of its debt. The plan would also broaden the availability of federal tax breaks for island residents, including the earned-income tax credit, widen access to Medicaid and create a mechanism for congressional oversight of the island’s troubled finances. (Fletcher, 10/23)