Commentary: Paul Ryan arrived in Washington in 1998 with a head full of teachings from Ayn Rand and a single-minded determination to reduce the national debt. He would go on to serve as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, run for vice president and rise to the position of speaker of the House. Yet, as Ryan concludes his career in Congress, it is painfully obvious that his efforts to reduce the national debt have been an abject failure. The debt has skyrocketed during Ryan’s two decades in Congress – exploding from $5.5 trillion when he first arrived to $21.6 trillion this year. And, that number is expected to climb to more than $25 trillion in the next three years, thanks to the huge tax cut Ryan championed last December. Republicans, including our own Steve Pearce, promised that the tax cut would produce such spectacular economic growth that it would pay for itself. Now, one year later, the stock market has given back nearly all of its gains for the year, economists are warning about the possibility of a recession in the near future and workers have already consumed their tiny sliver of the tax cut pie. With a few weeks left in his congressional career, it is clear that there will be no monuments erected to celebrate Ryan’s success in balancing the federal budget. And so maybe he’s looking for monuments in Saudi Arabia instead? Last week, Ryan blocked efforts by others in Congress to end our nation’s support for a Saudi-led war in Yemen that has led to the death by starvation of tens of thousands of children. UNICEF reports that another child dies every 10 minutes in Yemen – with 400,000 children starving and another 1.5 million acutely malnourished. U.N. officials say the end result could be the worst famine in a century, not because of a lack of food, but rather a lack of humanity. In response to both that humanitarian crisis and the murder of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a team of Saudi assassins, the Senate voted 60-39 last week to exercise its authority under the War Power Act to end U.S. support for Sandi Arabia in its battle against Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, in Yemen. It was a rare show of strength by a Congress that has willingly abdicated its war-making authority ever since the terrorist attacks of 2001. But as the Senate was passing its bill, Ryan tucked a provision into the Farm Bill that will prevent the House from considering the measure. Democrats will undoubtedly reverse the move next month when they take control of the House. But with 10 children dying every minute, the human suffering between now and then could be immense. And for what? GOP support for Saudi Arabia appears to be based on the ancient proverb that the enemy of my enemy (Iran) is my friend. We have turned a blind eye to the atrocities being committed by an oppressive monarchy in Riyadh in hopes of countering an oppressive monarchy Tehran. In the era of “America First,” it is probably too much to ask that our nation would once again aspire to be a force for peace and stability in the world. But we should, at the very least, end our active support of this humanitarian nightmare. Walter Rubel is editorial page editor of the Sun-News. He can be reached at wrubel@lcsun-news.com