Secretary touted by Paul Ryan for getting $1.50 pay increase says House Speaker ‘may not have read the whole article’

New York Daily News, The (NY)

Feb. 06--After getting insulted so badly for tweeting about a high school secretary now making an extra $1.50 per week thanks to the Republican tax bill that he would eventually delete the post entirely, House Speaker Paul Ryan has found yet another critic: the high school secretary now making $1.50 per paycheck thanks to the Republican tax bill.

Speaking with CBS News, Julia Ketchum of Lancaster, Pa., said she was shocked that the Wisconsin congressman chose to highlight her in an Associated Press article that looked at how the legislation is already affecting people's take home pay.

"A secretary at a public high school in Lancaster, PA, said she was pleasantly surprised her pay went up $1.50 a week ... she said (that) will more than cover her Costco membership for the year," he wrote on Twitter Saturday morning.

"I'm really surprised actually because the paragraph above me, and the paragraph below my quote -- those folks got hundreds more -- hundreds," said Ketchum. "And I got a $1.50 per paycheck more.

"So it shows me he may not have read the whole article."

Ketchum was referring to Todd Anderson and his fiance, a Texas couple who are both educators and received $200 more combined in their checks, and Wayne Love, a Florida resident who works in the managed care industry and saw an extra $200 in his paycheck -- which he said he'd use to help cover a $300 increase in his health insurance costs.

Regardless, asked if she was happy with the pay increase, Ketchum was of the opinion that every little bit helps and that she's still "pleasantly surprised."

"$1.50 is a $1.50," she said. "I noticed it, I watch my finances and I noticed it -- so it didn't go down, so that was good."

That might not be the case further down the line though, as PolitiFact projects that only income ranges above $75,000 will still see a cut by 2027, unlike corporations, whose savings were made permanent by the legislation.

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