Freedom Caucus

The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It is generally considered to be the most conservative and furthest-right bloc within the chamber.[1][2][3][4][5] The caucus was formed in January 2015 by a group of conservatives and Tea Party movement members,[6][7] with the aim of pushing the Republican leadership to the right.[2] Its first chairperson, Jim Jordan, described the caucus as a "smaller, more cohesive, more agile and more active" group of conservative representatives... The caucus originated during the mid–January 2015 Republican congressional retreat in Hershey, Pennsylvania.[26] According to founding member Mick Mulvaney, "that was the first time we got together and decided we were a group, and not just a bunch of pissed-off guys"... The founding members who constituted the first board of directors for the new caucus were 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.

The newly formed group declared that a criterion for new members in the group would be opposition to John Boehner as Speaker of the House and willingness to vote against or thwart him on legislation that the group opposed.

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.

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

On October 30, 2017, Vanity Fair published an interview with Boehner, who said of the Freedom Caucus: "They can't tell you what they're for. They can tell you everything they're against. They're anarchists. They want total chaos. Tear it all down and start over. That's where their mindset is."

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

Following the election of Donald Trump, Mulvaney said, "Trump wants to turn Washington upside down – that was his first message and his winning message. We want the exact same thing.

Freedom Caucus vice chair Jim Jordan said that during the Trump administration, the Freedom Caucus shifted focus from passing legislation to defending the President.*

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 who believed that the replacement provisions had the effect of failing to repeal some elements of the original Affordable Care Act.

Two days later, President Donald Trump publicly criticized the Freedom Caucus and other right-wing groups

Vocal Freedom Caucus member Justin Amash responded by accusing Trump of "succumb[ing] to the D.C. Establishment."

Trump later developed a closer relationship with the caucus chair, Mark Meadows. In April 2018, Trump described three caucus members – Meadows, Jim Jordan, and Ron DeSantis – as "absolute warriors" for their defense of him during the course of the Special Counsel investigation.

In March 2020, former Freedom Caucus chair Mark Meadows was appointed as White House chief of staff, replacing Mick Mulvaney, who was also a founding member of the Freedom Caucus.

After Trump lost his bid for reelection in November 2020, many members of the Freedom Caucus supported Trump's attempt to overturn the election results. In early December 2020, amid pressure from Trump on congressional Republicans to help him subvert the election outcome, two dozen House Republicans, including many Freedom Caucus members, sent a letter to Trump asking him to order his Attorney General, William P. Barr, to appoint a Justice Department special counsel to investigate supposed election "irregularities", even though Barr had previously acknowledged that there was no evidence justifying such a step.

In April 2021, a faction within the Freedom Caucus, led by Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene, attempted to form a new splinter group called the "America First Caucus," along with Matt Gaetz.

Later, a faction emerged of Trump loyalists within the Freedom Caucus known as the 'MAGA Squad', which included Gosar, Greene, Gaetz, Madison Cawthorn, Louie Gohmert, Mo Brooks, Andy Biggs, Scott Perry, and Lauren Boebert. It was "not a formal caucus," but was described as more radical than the mainstream Freedom Caucus.

In June 2023, following a feud with Boebert, Greene was expelled from the Freedom Caucus.

In December 2021, the Freedom Caucus officially expanded to the state level, establishing the 'State Freedom Caucus Network' in state legislatures to provide legislators with additional resources.

In July 2022, the caucus split over the Respect for Marriage Act, which recognized a statutory right to same-sex marriage. All members voted against except Chairperson Scott Perry (R-PA), who joined 46 other Republicans and all Democrats in voting for the bill.

118th Congress House Republican leadership elections (2023)

Before the internal House Republican election, the caucus issued an array of demands that would fundamentally change House procedure by weakening the power of the speaker and strengthening the power of both the caucus and rank-and-file House Republicans as a whole.

codifying the Hastert rule ("majority-of-the-majority" rule), which would block all legislation except those supported by a majority of House Republicans.

Kevin McCarthy needed 218 votes from the House floor to be elected speaker in the January 3, 2023, vote. After winning the internal Republican nomination, some Freedom Caucus members became outspoken supporters of McCarthy

In December 2022, seven hardline Republicans, including Freedom Caucus chairperson Scott Perry and several members of the caucus, issued a letter demanding certain commitments from a speaker

In January 2023, 19 Freedom Caucus members voted against McCarthy during the House floor vote for Speaker, eventually allowing McCarthy to become Speaker only after he had agreed to make extensive House rules concessions to the rebels.

In September 2023, the federal government appeared poised to shut down after representatives could not vote on a series of appropriations bills. The Freedom Caucus threatened to depose McCarthy if he turned to Democrats to gather more votes

*hours before a shutdown was expected to occur, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan continuing resolution to fund the government through November 17. The resolution was passed in the Senate and signed by President Joe Biden, averting a shutdown. Representative Matt Gaetz, who has led resistance to McCarthy, announced in an interview with CNN that he would move to remove McCarthy for working with Democrats.

On October 2, Gaetz filed a motion to vacate, forcing a vote on McCarthy's removal within two legislative days.*

The House proceeded with a successful vote to vacate on a 216–210 vote, the first time in congressional history that the chair was vacated. It was almost all Democrats voting to vacate, supporting the wackos

The House Freedom Caucus does not disclose the names of its members and membership is by invitation only.

A number of members have identified themselves, or have been identified by others, as belonging to the Freedom Caucus. There are at least 41 caucus members as of March 2024....