Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., said Thursday morning that he’s still not sold on Rep. Paul Ryan as the next House speaker, and said he and other House Freedom Caucus members are still anxious to learn how Ryan would change how the House is run.
“I’m still uncomfortable, still not for sure how Paul Ryan would run the institution differently from the current speaker,” Huelskamp said on C-SPAN.
“How would he be different than John Boehner?” he asked. “The current leadership’s been rejected by the American people and Republican voters, and we want some specifics.”
Huelskamp stressed repeatedly that many conservative members are looking for rule changes that would empower rank-and-file members. In a Wednesday meeting, Ryan told House Freedom Caucus members that he’s open to those sorts of changes, which Huelskamp said is encouraging.
But he said there are other issues, including Ryan’s demand that the rules be changed to make it harder to vacate the speaker’s chair.
“I don’t think that is going to change,” he said, noting that Thomas Jefferson himself supported the current rule.
Many observers have said that demand from Ryan shows how hesitant he is to take the job, along with other concessions he wants the House to make if he’s going to take on what Huelskamp admitted is a “grueling” job. Huelskamp said Thursday that Ryan told House Freedom Caucus members Wednesday that “he didn’t want the job.”
Another issue is Ryan’s own position on policy issues, Huelskamp said.
“He has certainly been a leader on budget and fiscal issues and the need for entitlement reform, but on the other hand, his views on comprehensive immigration reform and a number of other issues weigh heavily in the minds of our voters out there,” he said.
Finally, Huelskamp said he is worried about Ryan’s demand that he should not be required to spend his weekends fundraising for the GOP. Ryan has cited his young family as the reason why he wants to return home every weekend, but Huelskamp indicated that the GOP’s demand for fundraising may be incompatible with that requirement.
“That’s a worry,” he said.
Huelskamp lost two committee assignments after Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, punished him and other GOP members for voting against legislation supported by leadership, and some Republicans have floated the idea of ensuring that the new speaker can’t punish members that way. One of those committees was the Budget Committee, which Ryan chaired at the time.
But despite Huelskamp’s hesitation, Ryan seems to have the votes to win the speakership. A supermajority of House Freedom Caucus members said they could support him, pending a final agreement on how Ryan would run the House.
Ryan is expected to announce Friday whether he’ll seek the job now that he has key supporters lined up.
