Freedom Caucus: The Fight Club of Congress
| WASHINGTON
If the federal government shuts down at midnight Saturday, nearly everyone on Capitol Hill is ready to blame the House Freedom Caucus.听听
Yet hardly anyone here can articulate what, exactly, the right-wing group wants 鈥� or how it plans to get there.
There isn鈥檛 even complete clarity on who鈥檚 in it.听The group has no website, no official roster, and definitely no cameras in the room where it happens.听听
Why We Wrote This
The group designed to be a thorn in the side of GOP leadership has become too fragmented to agree on specific demands, reducing its influence as a bloc. But key individuals have more leverage than ever.
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, a key player in the shutdown drama, often appears with the Freedom Caucus. But he says he鈥檚 technically just an 鈥渁dmirer.鈥� Georgia firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene was a member, and now isn鈥檛, under circumstances that remain unclear.
You can only join if you鈥檙e 鈥渧etted and invited,鈥� says Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, strolling back from the House last week after casting one of six GOP votes that blocked leadership from bringing the defense appropriations bill to a vote.听
鈥淎ndy Biggs, my hero!鈥� says Rep. Lauren Boebert听of Colorado,听a fellow Freedom Caucus member,听sidling up to him at the edge of the crosswalk leading back to House office buildings.听
鈥淗ey, what鈥檚 up,鈥� he says, before turning back and declining to elaborate further on the caucus鈥檚 鈥渋nternal workings.鈥澨�
It鈥檚 all part of the mystique surrounding the ultraconservative group that often seems like Capitol Hill鈥檚 version of Fight Club. (First rule of Fight Club: You don鈥檛 talk about Fight Club.) Founded to rein in spending and decentralize power in the House, it has been听a thorn in the side of GOP speakers听from John Boehner to Paul Ryan and now Kevin McCarthy. It has shut down government operations and careers before 鈥� and has made clear it isn鈥檛 afraid to do so again.
Yet while Freedom Caucus members have more clout than ever, including key seats on committees and subcommittees, this latest standoff has also exposed cracks within the group itself. Members have been publicly divided over tactics, the desirability of a shutdown, and whether to accept a short-term fix.听
One reason for the chaos is simple math.听Republicans hold only a four-seat majority,听which means that just a handful of lawmakers can gum up the works.听That gives any holdouts outsize leverage,听which disincentivizes banding together听or compromising. As the government edges closer to the brink of running out of money, Speaker McCarthy isn鈥檛 negotiating just with the Freedom Caucus, but with a rotating cast of individuals, both inside and outside the group 鈥� all with seemingly disparate demands.听
鈥淒idn鈥檛 we sing kumbaya the other night?鈥� jokes听Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, a Freedom Caucus member, when asked about the group鈥檚 internal divisions. Mr. Buck himself has publicly criticized Mr. McCarthy鈥檚 decision to launch an听impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, calling it a transparent attempt by the speaker to distract from the spending fight.
鈥淲e all held hands,鈥� quips Representative Biggs, walking alongside him.听听
鈥淚t鈥檚 a big group. And it鈥檚 a group that鈥檚 going to disagree,鈥� says Mr. Buck, more seriously. 鈥淧eople look at that and say, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 disorganized.鈥� I look at that and I say, 鈥業鈥檓 learning a lot.鈥欌��
What, specifically, has he been learning?
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of conservatives that will vote for more spending.鈥�
Conservatives were 鈥済etting rolled鈥�
The Freedom Caucus was born during a secret January 2015 meeting of nine GOP members of Congress in Hershey, Pennsylvania.听
During the Obama years, Republicans had retaken the House with the tea party wave of 2010, but many were frustrated that they hadn鈥檛 made much progress in exacting fiscal discipline. A 16-day shutdown in late 2013 over the president鈥檚 Affordable Care Act failed to extract any听changes to the health care policy, and the GOP saw its approval numbers plunge.听
Conservatives felt like they were 鈥渃onstantly getting rolled,鈥� says听Matt听Salmon,听a veteran representative from Arizona who was recruited to join the Hershey meeting.听He and his co-founders saw a need for a new group that could harness the collective clout of right-wing members.听Their goal:听pressure Republican leaders to restore 鈥渇iscal sanity鈥� and constitutional principles,听and allow legislators to actually legislate 鈥� instead of making big spending decisions behind closed doors.听
Many today insist the group鈥檚 mission remains unchanged.听Freedom Caucus leaders say they are trying to draw a line in the sand, to get a bankrupt and broken Washington back on track before it鈥檚 too late.听
鈥淥ur members are united on one thing, and that is to make sure that we cut spending in this government and that we fund things that the government should be doing 鈥� no more and no less,鈥� says Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida.听
Mr. Salmon, however, is dismayed over the group鈥檚 current state. He says the caucus abandoned its core principles to become a 鈥渃heering squad鈥� for President Donald Trump, staying mum as the Trump administration听ran up big deficits.听(What members say in their defense: They weren鈥檛 in Congress yet, or the economy was much better then.)听That, he says, created a credibility deficit that has undermined its power.
鈥淲here were you during those four years when we were spending like drunken sailors on shore leave?鈥� asks Mr. Salmon, who left Congress just before Mr. Trump took office in January 2017.听鈥淚t鈥檚 like, 鈥楪uys, you used to have actually a fiscal heart and soul, and now you鈥檙e just playing political games.鈥欌�澨�
Others on the right are less critical but agree the caucus is struggling to exert the influence it once had.
A more unified Freedom Caucus would actually be helpful in the current situation, argues Rep. Thomas Massie,听a Kentucky libertarian who is not in the group but is a fiscal conservative. 鈥淚f they were functioning as they were founded, where they consolidate ideas and plans among the most conservative portion of the party,鈥� they could win some meaningful concessions, he says.听
鈥淭he problem we have right now is that the Freedom Caucus is not leading鈥� the dissent, Mr. Massie adds. 鈥淎 lot of times when you find five or 10 dissenters, there鈥檚 no common objection.听So it鈥檚 hard to get past that impasse.鈥�
Fighting for the sake of fighting?
鈥淎nybody seen a bald guy with a goatee?鈥� asks someone in the bowels of the Capitol where journalists are milling around to get the latest scuttlebutt after a GOP meeting breaks up.听
It鈥檚 a tongue-in-cheek reference to Rep. Chip Roy, an ideological heavyweight within the Freedom Caucus and one of the most prominent members pushing Speaker McCarthy to hold the line on government spending.
Mr. Roy knows all about government shutdowns, and the political risks they carry: He was serving as chief of staff for GOP Sen. Ted Cruz when the senator championed the 2013 shutdown over the Affordable Care Act.听He doesn鈥檛 want another one now, and he鈥檚 chastised some of his more hard-line colleagues for flirting with danger.
But he鈥檚 also insistent that Congress needs to rein in 鈥渙ut of control鈥� spending.
鈥淭he federal government will spend $2 trillion more than it takes in this year,鈥� Representative Roy said at a Freedom Caucus press conference earlier this month, noting that the government had already added $1.5 trillion in debt since the 鈥渟o-called debt deal鈥� in June. 鈥淲e鈥檙e now spending more on interest on the debt than we are on defending the United States of America.鈥澨�
鈥淭hank God for the Freedom Caucus,鈥� chimed in Florida Sen. Rick Scott at the same presser. 鈥淲e鈥檝e gotta stop this insanity.鈥�
Still unclear is how they plan to do that.
With Democrats currently in control of the Senate, and President Biden in the White House, nothing can pass without bipartisan support, which means, in the end, that some form of compromise will be required. The question for conservatives is how much pain they want to try to inflict in advance of that eventual compromise 鈥� and whether those efforts will actually help or hurt their cause.
Many are still irate over the debt ceiling deal Mr. McCarthy brokered with the president back in June. Others concede that the speaker鈥檚 hands were essentially tied.听Some critics question whether the current holdouts can be placated by any concessions, or simply want to fight for the sake of fighting.听
Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, who withheld his vote for Mr. McCarthy to become speaker until the 11th of 15听rounds, says听he鈥檚 fine with being one of only a handful of GOP members听standing apart from the rest of the Freedom Caucus if that鈥檚 what it takes to achieve 鈥渆conomic security.鈥� 听
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to fight for the country,鈥� says Representative Norman. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 care whether we鈥檝e got four [members], or we鈥檝e got more.鈥澨�
Hanging over the negotiations is the threat that at any moment, a single disgruntled member could bring a 鈥渕otion to vacate鈥� the speaker鈥檚 chair 鈥撎齣n other words, a vote on whether to kick Mr. McCarthy out of his job.听听
In a Sept. 12 phone call with reporters, Mr. Gaetz accused Mr. McCarthy of backtracking on promises he made to conservatives when trying to win the speakership 鈥� and threatened to bring such a motion 鈥渆very single day鈥� for as long as it takes.
Democrats have been watching this drama unfold with a mixture of frustration, schadenfreude, and even a touch of sympathy.
鈥淲e鈥檝e all had friends in relationships where we say to them, 鈥楾hey鈥檙e not good for you, and they鈥檙e not that into you,鈥欌�� says Democratic Rep. Derek Kilmer of Washington. 鈥淎nd this feels like that dynamic.鈥�
The majority party has always had to deal with disgruntled factions, notes former House historian Ray Smock. But it鈥檚 unusual for a handful of people to wield such outsize power.听Previous Speaker Nancy Pelosi managed to largely听maintain discipline in the last Congress with an 11-seat Democratic majority.听
鈥淭he fact that the leadership on the Republican side has not found a way to deal with their own hotheads, as I鈥檓 prone to call them, is kind of a mystery,鈥� says Mr. Smock. 鈥淎t some point they will have to be called to account.鈥�
A temporary fix falls short
Over the past听week, Mr. McCarthy began bending to some听of the renegades鈥� demands. Mr. Gaetz and others have been insisting on 12 separate spending bills rather than one big 鈥渙mnibus,鈥� which has become the default for Congress and makes it difficult to influence funding levels in specific areas.听
Earlier in the summer, however, some of those same members stalled that 12-bill process by bringing the House floor to a complete standstill in听retaliation for Speaker McCarthy鈥檚 compromise on the debt ceiling. Conservatives said Mr. McCarthy had reneged on promises he made in January to win their backing for the speakership.
鈥淲hat we ended up doing was sort of re-litigating January ... in July,鈥� says Representative Massie. 鈥淚t was sort of like, 鈥極K, Kevin, you didn鈥檛 hold your end of the bargain, so we鈥檙e going to stop you from doing anything.鈥欌��
The speaker held听votes Thursday on four of those 12 bills, and got three of them passed in addition to one that passed this summer. But he got little in return.听On Friday, 21 Republicans torpedoed a GOP stopgap spending measure 鈥撎齥nown as a 鈥渃ontinuing resolution,鈥� or CR 鈥� that would have kept the government running in the short term.
The measure, which Representatives Roy and Donalds, along with Freedom Caucus chair Scott Perry, hashed out with other Republicans, provides for lower overall spending levels and provisions to听improve border security. But more than 10 of their own Freedom Caucus colleagues, including Mr. Biggs, Mr. Buck, and Ms. Boebert, helped kill it.听
Rep. Garrett Graves, who was the chief negotiator between the caucus and Mr. McCarthy during the debt ceiling standoff, said last week that walking away from the CR was a 鈥渂ig mistake.鈥� The measure wouldn鈥檛 have passed the Senate as written, but it would have given Mr. McCarthy some leverage in his negotiations with Democrats. Now, they may be heading for a politically damaging shutdown that eventually forces Republicans to cave entirely.
鈥淚 think the closer we get to shutdown, the more and more leverage you lose,鈥� he said.
When asked whether the stalemate reflects a breakdown in ideological cohesion, personalities, or just general dysfunction, he gave a tired smile.
鈥淚鈥檝e got a whole lot of reasons as to why that鈥檚 happening,鈥� he said. Tapping his head, he added, 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 just going to keep them right there for right now.鈥�
