“I’m just trying to find the sweet spot,” Ryan told POLITICO on Friday. “I see an emerging consensus.”

There are signs that Ryan is making progress, although he declined to go into specifics. His discussions are both on finding a policy and a process solution, such as what bills they move and how they move them.

His is an important conservative stamp of approval — there’s no one who is as respected on Capitol Hill as the GOP’s 2012 vice presidential candidate…

But it’s Ryan’s vagueness that has some on the right concerned. Some Republicans are privately skeptical about Ryan’s involvement. They say he is really aiming for a large-scale immigration bill — and toying with a piecemeal approach publicly only to appease leadership.