Freedom Caucus

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This article is about the U.S. Congressional organization. For the Democratic political action organization, see Democratic Freedom Caucus.
House Freedom Caucus
Chairman Mark Meadows (N.C.)
Founded January 26, 2015; 10 years ago (2015-01-26)
Split from Republican Study Committee
Ideology Conservatism[1][2]
Libertarian conservatism[3][4]
Right-wing populism[5]
Social conservatism[6][7]
Libertarianism[2]
Political position Right-wing[2][8][9][10][11][12][13][5]
to Far-right[14][15][16][17][18][19]
National affiliation Republican Party
Seats in the House
31 / 435
Politics of the United States
Political parties
Elections

The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of conservative and libertarian Republican members of the United States House of Representatives.[1][3][2] It was formed in 2015 by what member Jim Jordan called a "smaller, more cohesive, more agile and more active" group of conservative Congressmen.[20]

Many members are also part of the much larger Republican Study Committee.[20][21] The caucus is sympathetic to the Tea Party movement.[22] The Freedom Caucus is considered the farthest-right grouping within the House Republican Conference.[23][24]

History

The origins of the caucus lie at the mid-January 2015 Republican congressional retreat in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Nine conservative active Republican members of the House began planning a new Congressional caucus separate from the Republican Study Committee and apart from the House Republican Conference. The group ultimately became the nine founding members and the first board of directors for the new caucus consisting of Republican Representatives Scott Garrett of New Jersey, Jim Jordan of Ohio, John Fleming of Louisiana, Matt Salmon of Arizona, Justin Amash of Michigan, Raúl Labrador of Idaho, Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, Ron DeSantis of Florida and Mark Meadows of North Carolina.[25]

The group debated a name for their new caucus eventually settling on "House Freedom Caucus" (HFC) because, according to founding member Mick Mulvaney, "it was so generic and universally awful that we had no reason to be against it." The group of nine founding members in Hershey set as a criterion for new members that they had to be willing to vote against Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner on legislation that the group opposed.[26]

During the crisis over the funding of the Department of Homeland Security in early 2015, the Caucus offered four plans for resolution, but all were rejected by the Republican leadership. One of the caucus leaders, Labrador of Idaho, said the Caucus will offer an alternative that the most conservative Republican members could support.[27][needs update]

Speaker of the House John Boehner resignation in 2015

The House Freedom Caucus was involved in the resignation of Boehner on September 25, 2015, and the ensuing leadership battle for the new Speaker.[28] Members of the Caucus who had voted against Boehner for Speaker felt unfairly punished, accusing him of cutting them off from positions in the Republican Study Committee and depriving them of key committee assignments.[not in citation given] Boehner found it increasingly difficult to manage House Republicans with the fierce opposition of the Freedom Caucus, and he sparred with House Republican members in 2013 over their willingness to shut down the government in order to accomplish goals such as repealing the Affordable Care Act. These members later created and became members of the Freedom Caucus when it was created in 2015.[26][29][not in citation given]

After Boehner resigned as speaker, Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Leader, was initially the lead contender to succeed him, but the Freedom Caucus withheld its support.[30] However, McCarthy withdrew from the race on September 28, 2015.[31] On the same day as McCarthy's withdrawal, Reid Ribble resigned from the Freedom Caucus saying he had joined to promote certain policies and could not support the role that it was playing in the leadership race.[32]

On October 20, 2015, Paul Ryan announced that his bid for the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives was contingent on an official endorsement by the Freedom Caucus.[33] While the group could not reach the 80% approval that was needed to give an official endorsement, on October 21, 2015, it announced that it had reached a supermajority support for Ryan.[34] On October 29, 2015, Ryan succeeded John Boehner as the Speaker of the House.[35]

On November 16, 2015, Jim Jordan was re-elected chairman of the caucus.[36]

Backlash in 2016

The group faced backlash from the Republican Party establishment during the 2016 election cycle.[37] One of its members, Congressman Tim Huelskamp, a Tea Party Republican representing Kansas' First District, was defeated during a primary election on August 2, 2016, by Roger Marshall.[38]

Rejection of American Health Care Act in 2017

On March 24, 2017, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the House Republican bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, was withdrawn by Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan because it lacked the votes to pass, due in large part to opposition from Freedom Caucus Republicans.[39][40][41]

Two days later, President Donald Trump publicly criticized the Freedom Caucus and other right-wing groups, such as the Club for Growth and Heritage Action, that opposed the bill. Trump tweeted: "Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Obamacare!"[42][43] On the same day, Congressman Ted Poe of Texas resigned from the Freedom Caucus.[44] On March 30, 2017, Trump "declared war" on the Freedom Caucus, sending a tweet urging Republicans to "fight them" in the 2018 midterm elections "if they don't get on the team" (i.e., support Trump's proposals).[45] Vocal Freedom Caucus member Justin Amash responded by accusing Trump of "succumb[ing] to the D.C. Establishment."[46]

Membership

Congressional District map for Freedom Caucus membership of the 114th Congress. Former members in light color.

The House Freedom Caucus does not disclose the names of its members.[47] In the current (115th) Congress, the group has about three dozen members.[47] A number of members have identified themselves, or have been identified by others, as members of the Freedom Caucus, as of March 2017 including:

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Former members

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See also

References

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Further reading

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Template:Ideological caucuses in the U.S. Congress

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  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lauren Fox, Why (almost) everyone hates the House Freedom Caucus, CNN (March 24, 2017): "At first, there were just nine of them, but the group, which is considered the most far-right flank of the Republican conference, grew."
  24. ↑ Mark Barrett, Meadows in line to lead House's most conservative wing, Asheville Citizen-Times (December 3, 2016): "the House Freedom Caucus, which occupies the furthest-right position on the ideological spectrum in the U.S. House..."
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Shannon Pettypiece Jennifer Jacobs & Billy House, Trump Meets Freedom Caucus and Result Is Legislative Disaster, Bloomberg (March 25, 2017).
  41. ↑ Eliza Collins, Collapse of Obamacare repeal plan puts Freedom Caucus in complicated spot, USA Today (March 24, 2017): "While the bill faced critics from all factions of the party, no group played more of a role in sinking the legislation than the Freedom Caucus."
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Abby Livingston, U.S. Rep. Ted Poe resigns from Freedom Caucus, Texas Tribune (March 26, 2017).
  45. ↑ Glenn Thrush, 'We Must Fight Them’: Trump Goes After Conservatives of Freedom Caucus, New York Times (March 30, 2017).
  46. ↑ Jordan Fabian, Trump threatens to ‘fight’ Freedom Caucus in midterms, The Hill (March 30, 2017).
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 47.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 48.3 48.4 48.5 48.6 48.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2017/03/24/two-arizona-republican-house-members-helped-sink-health-bill/99571014/
  51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 51.2 51.3 51.4 51.5 51.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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