House Speaker Paul Ryan briefed Donald Trump and Ted Cruz on House Republicans’ ambitions this year via phone, according to his office.
Ryan explained House plans to “present a bold conservative policy agenda this year,” according to Ryan spokesman AshLee Strong.
Ryan is also planning to chat soon with Marco Rubio and John Kasich, the two other Republican candidates, Strong said.
The new speaker has looked to offer a policy program that the GOP presidential ticket can embrace once one a nominee has been chosen.
Yet Ryan, the party’s vice presidential nominee in 2012, has tried to remain out of the presidential race, declining to endorse any candidate. He regularly cites his role as Speaker as the Chair of the party’s convention in July as the reason he won’t engage in the 2016 race. Instead, he has sought to unite House Republicans since taking over as speaker from John Boehner last year.
Ryan has made a few exceptions, such as criticizing Trump for not immediately disavowing the Ku Klux Klan in a recent CNN inteview and strongly rebuking a signature Trump policy proposal to temporarily suspend entry of Muslims to the United States.
The Trump and Cruz campaigns did not immediately respond to requests from CNN to comment.
