Freedom Caucus

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Trump meeting with the Freedom Caucus on March 23, 2017.

God, guns, and freedom U.S. Politics

Starting arguments over Thanksgiving dinner

Huey Long Pentagon Papers Afghanistan War Ballotpedia John F. Kennedy Linda Sarsour Thomas Jefferson

Persons of interest

Greg Abbott Pat Buchanan Tim Eyman Huey Long Bill Richardson Thomas Jefferson v - t - e

“”It can’t be all this way or a no.

—Rep. Mark Meadows,[dead link] former chairperson of this stupid caucus

The House Freedom Caucus, shortened as the Freedom Caucus, also known as the Sedition Caucus is a congressional caucus consisting of conservative and libertarian Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It is currently considered to be the most right-wing caucus within the House Republican Conference. Formed in 2015 and, as of July 2022 is currently chaired by Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA). Initially founded by 9 wackos GOP Congressmen, it now stands at a total of 42 confirmed members (July 2022), or almost a fourth of all current GOP Representatives.

The caucus was sympathetic to the Tea Party movement when that was current and is considered the farthest-right grouping within the House Republican Conference. They are noted for their fanatical devotion to Trump even by GOP standards, many of them spreading conspiracy theories defending him.

Background

During an early 2015 Republican congressional retreat, nine conservative active Republican members of the House began planning a new Congressional caucus. As opposed to the opening quote at the top of this page, its fundamental reason for creation seemed to be to provide a way for members to basically vote no to anything and everything with which the GOP House leadership could come up. They have gradually expanded their membership over the years, and whilst not disclosing House members who align with them, anyone with half a brain can easily figure out who they are, given their public rants statements to both the press and/or from the floor of the US Congress itself.

Current roster

• Jim Banks (IN-03)
• Andy Biggs (AZ-05)
• Dan Bishop (NC-08)
• Lauren Boebert (CO-03)
• Josh Brecheen (OK-02)
• Michael Burgess (TX-26)
• Eric Burlison (MO-07)
• Ben Cline (VA-06)
• Michael Cloud (TX-27)
• Andrew Clyde (GA-09)
• Mike Collins (GA-10)
• Eli Crane (AZ-02)
• Scott DesJarlais (TN-04)
• Byron Donalds (FL-19)
• Jeff Duncan (SC-03)
• Russ Fulcher (ID-01)
• Matt Gaetz (FL-01)
• Bob Good (VA-05) — Chair
• Paul Gosar (AZ-04)
• Mark E. Green (TN-07)
• Morgan Griffith (VA-09)
• Harriet Hageman (WY-AL)
• Andy Harris (MD-01)
• Diana Harshbarger (TN-01)
• Clay Higgins (LA-03)
• Mike Johnson (LA-04) — Current Speaker of the House
• Jim Jordan (OH-04) — Vice chair
• Debbie Lesko (AZ-08)
• Anna Paulina Luna (FL-13)
• Mary Miller (IL-15)
• Alex Mooney (WV-02)
• Barry Moore (AL-02)
• Greg Murphy (NC-03)
• Troy Nehls (TX-22)
• Ralph Norman (SC-05)
• Greg Murphy (NC-03)
• Andy Ogles (TN-05)
• Burgess Owens (UT-04)
• Gary Palmer (AL-06)
• Scott Perry (PA-10)
• Bill Posey (FL-08)
• Matt Rosendale (MT-02)
• Chip Roy (TX-21)
• Keith Self (TX-03)
• Greg Steube (FL-17)
• Tom Tiffany (WI-07)

Former members

• Mo Brooks (AL-5)
• Ken Buck (CO-04)
• Ted Budd (NC-13)
• Madison Cawthorn (NC-11)
• Warren Davidson (OH-08)
• Ron DeSantis (FL-06) — Former founding member
• Louie Gohmert (TX-01)
• Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14)
• Yvette Herrell (NM-02)
• Jody Hice (GA-10)
• Darrell Isa (CA-50)
• Ronnie Jackson (TX-13)
• Fred Keller (PA-12)
• Mark Meadows (NC-11) — Former chair.
• Devin Nunes (CA-22)
• Denver Riggleman (VA-05)
• Mark Sanford (SC-01)
• David Schweikert (AZ-06)
• Randy Weber (TX-21)
• Ron Wright (TX-06)
• Ted Yoho (FL-03)
• Lee Zeldin (NY-01)

Positions and legislative goals

Hard to determine here, to be honest. Apparently they share some of the same goals as the House members aligned with The Tea Party (see: saying yes to anything that bans or restricts abortion, let's say), yet they are supposed to be somehow different (see: saying no to anything former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Paul Ryan says). They came to prominence and public light most notably during the GOP's latest blunders efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, something that the GOP has only been promising and voting on for oh, the last ten years or so.

Formed around the time of Michele Bachmann's departure from the United States House of Representatives, it's hard to get a sense of their true ideology. Had Bachmann been able to join the group, one could have easily surmised that they were certifiably crazy. Without her, one might be able to draw a conclusion that they are just a bit more insane than the rest of the Congressional GOP membership. However, with the additions of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert to the caucus, it's pretty safe to say they're crazy.

Legacy

Again, hard to ultimately determine here as well, given that they are admittedly a "work in progress". But they have managed to do three major things:

1. They seem to be able to single-handedly take credit for the fact that The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often shortened to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (or nicknamed Obamacare) is still the law of the land.
2. They were able to make a complete nutjob like John Boehner seem plausibly rational by replacing him with Paul Ryan (whom they now just basically say no to as well). This unto itself is an impressive achievement.
3. In early January 2023, they were the major holdouts behind a GOP speaker crisis that occurred during the nomination of Kevin McCarthy as the 55th speaker of the House of Representatives. McCarthy eventually prevailed, but not before 14 failed ballots and chaos in the chamber, including a near-fisticuffs moment between Republican representatives Matt Gaetz and Mike Rogers. This was the first time it took more than 10 ballots to choose a speaker since the American Civil War.