Freedom Caucus members are signaling that the Republican revolt against John Boehner may not prevent them from seeing eye-to-eye with Speaker Paul Ryan on the spending fight that could lead to a government shutdown this fall.
After Boehner’s ouster, House Freedom Caucus members had been open in expressing their preference for a new speaker who would adopt a hardline approach to government spending. But after Ryan was elected last week, several Freedom Caucus members said they could work with him on the budget issue.
Rep. Mick Mulvaney said he believes Ryan will help the Freedom Caucus make its strong argument that Congress should pass spending bills on time and make deep cuts to the budget.
Rep. Justin Amash said he was “optimistic” that Ryan would be open to legislative solutions to cut government spending.
Rep. Matt Salmon also expressed his willingness to work with Ryan on the issue, which could help avert a government shutdown.
Even though Ryan is not the predatory budget-slasher preferred by some in the Freedom Caucus, they seem to have accepted him as a partner in their mission to restrain government spending. This could bode well for the coming budget fight, as Ryan seems more willing to negotiate and come to a compromise than Boehner did. This could help avert a government shutdown.