The conservative House Freedom Caucus may have backed Rep. Paul Ryan for speaker, but the decision was not unanimous, Rep. Mick Mulvaney told
Newsmax TV on Thursday.
"We rarely do things that are unanimous," the South Carolina Republican and a founding member of the caucus, told "The Hard Line" host Ed Berliner. "The group is not monolithic.
"People seem to think that these are hard-core, right-wing, nut jobs and that's it. There's a lot of folks in there who vote differently than others on a bunch of different things.
"We got together really based on one thing — which was process, the ability to be heard, the ability to be full members of Congress, to be legislators," Mulvaney said. "That's what unites us.
"The fact that we're not unanimous on Paul Ryan doesn't speak to the weakness of the group," he added. "In fact, the fact that we got 70 percent or so for him speaks to our strength."
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Ryan, 45, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, received the endorsement of a majority of the group's 40 or so conservative Republicans after a meeting late Wednesday.
The 2012 vice presidential candidate said Thursday
that he would seek the speakership.
Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry, another caucus member, told Berliner that the group did not capitulate to Ryan's demands. Those included serving as a "unifying" force within the House and not giving up time with his young family.
"It was provisional on not dealing with those demands directly," said Perry, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. "We never agreed to support those demands — and we're not going to as far as I could tell, but that will be each individual member.
"I will also say that for people who say we're intractable and it's 'my way or the highway,' they could see that obviously that is not the case and that they've underestimated and misjudged us.
"We're willing to negotiate and we're willing to come halfway on many things."
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