Founder: Freedom Caucus not sold on Ryan

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the founder of the House Freedom Caucus, says his group is not sold on Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for Speaker.

{mosads}“Well, look, Paul Ryan is a friend, I meet with him every single week, we talk about policy. I think he’d be a great messenger. He’ll come in front of our group and talk to us. I think our group would be favorable towards him, but we’re not there yet,” Jordan told host Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”

The anti-establishment firebrand said his group would be willing to support Ryan if he committed to decentralizing power in the House.

“I think he will agree to that, I think the next Speaker has to agree to that, because this place has got to change,” Jordan said. “The American people – 60 percent of our voters, Chris — think we have betrayed them, not disappointed, not slightly off track. We’ve betrayed them. We need a shake-up now.”

Jordan reiterated the Freedom Caucus’s support of Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.).

“Our position right now is we know Daniel Webster, we know he’s done this in Florida, where he took a model that was so controlled, top-down, centralized kind of power model, he diffused that kind of power and empowered the members,” Jordan said. “So I think that’s the model we want. I think whoever the next Speaker is, Paul Ryan or anyone else, has to go to that kind of model.”

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) postponed the election for his successor after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) suddenly dropped out of the race last week.

Ryan has said he isn’t interested in running for the House’s top job, but Republican leadership is pressuring him to reconsider.