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

* FairTax
* Family Security Matters
* Flat tax
* Right-to-work law
* President of the United States
* Blue Lives Matter
* Kevin McCarthy

Persons of interest

* Jon Huntsman
* Ulysses S. Grant
* Gary Johnson
* Earl K. Long
* Andrew Cuomo
* Thomas Jefferson

v \- t \- e

“”It can’t be all this way or a no.

—Rep. Mark Meadows,[1][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 January 2025 is currently chaired by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD). Initially founded by 9 ~~wackos~~ GOP Congressmen, it now stands at a total of 38 confirmed members (January 2025), or almost 20% 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.

## Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Membership
* 2.1 Current members
* 2.2 Former members
* 3 Positions and legislative goals
* 4 Legacy
* 5 Notes
* 6 References

## Background[edit]

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.

## Membership[edit]

Freedom Caucus membership is by invitation only and the names of its members are not publicly disclosed.[2] However, several members have either self-identified or been identified by others.

A full list of identified members, past and present, is available on Wikipedia, but some of the more notable wackjobs include:

### Current members[edit]

* Andy Harris — Caucus Chair
* Jim Jordan — Vice Chair
* Lauren Boebert — Communications Chair
* Mike Johnson — Current Speaker of the House
* Anna Paulina Luna — Gun nut and ethnic impersonator

### Former members[edit]

* Ron DeSantis — Founding member and later Governor of Florida
* Louie Gohmert — "The dumbest man in Congress"[3]
* Marjorie Taylor Greene — Wingnut of renown[note 1]
* Mark Meadows — Former chair[note 2]

## Positions and legislative goals[edit]

Hard to determine here, to be honest. Apparently they share some of the same goals as the House members aligned with The Tea Party (saying yes to anything that bans or restricts abortion, let's say), yet they are supposed to be somehow different (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 ~~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, shall we say, "aimlessly 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[edit]

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.[5] This was the first time it took more than 10 ballots to choose a speaker since the American Civil War.[6]

## Notes[edit]

1. ↑ She was booted in 2023 due to a dispute with Lauren Boebert.[4]
2. ↑ He became White House Chief of Staff under Trump from 2020 to 2021.

## References[edit]

1. ↑ https://www.rollcall.com/politics/freedom-caucus-better-understood-appreciated-outside-beltway
2. ↑ House Freedom Caucus members move from the fringe to power MSNBC, February 13, 2020
3. ↑ Louie Gohmert Concedes People Think He's The 'Dumbest Guy In Congress' Huffpost, 21 May, 2021
4. ↑ Marjorie Taylor Greene booted from House Freedom Caucus, Jordain Carney, Politico 6 July, 2023
5. ↑ "Inside the House GOP's speakership crisis" by Olivia Beavers, Sarah Ferris, and Jordain Carney, Politico, 2023 January 7
6. ↑ "The last time the House had to vote more than 10 times for speaker" by Ted Genoways, Washington Post, 2023 January 6