For House conservatives, blocking Ryan's rise poses risks
If they back the Wisconsin Republican — which two-thirds of the caucus' roughly 40 lawmakers did in a closed-door vote late Wednesday — the group could improve frayed ties with their GOP congressional colleagues.
Block Ryan, the party's 2012 vice presidential nominee, and the caucus could have become more isolated and disliked than ever by other House Republicans and the GOP establishment and faulted for wounding the party's brand in the run-up to next year's elections.
With 247 House Republicans, a united Freedom Caucus can keep GOP support for a bill on the House floor to around 207 votes — short of the 218 needed for a majority in the chamber.
Any chance of winning such support could have eroded completely had they short-circuited Ryan, who scores well in public opinion polls and was viewed as the GOP leader with the best chance of reuniting the party's warring factions.
Freedom Caucus members' views often echo the grassroots GOP anger that has propelled Donald Trump and Ben Carson to the top of the party's pile of 2016 presidential hopefuls.
The Freedom Caucus wants to weaken the speaker's ability to control which bills reach the House floor and who chairs committees, rules changes that would give power to groups like the caucus at the expense of House leaders.