About 50 far-right Republicans in America’s House of Representatives are unabashed agents of chaos. In this Congress they became kingmakers
been likened by fellow Republicans to “lemmings with suicide vests”, “legislative terrorists” and the Taliban. When they formed a voting bloc in 2015 they considered naming themselves the “Reasonable Nut Job Caucus”. Members of the House Freedom Caucus, a troupe of about 50 far-right Republicans in America’s House of Representatives , are unabashed agents of chaos. In this Congress they became kingmakers. Nineteen of the 20 lawmakers who forcedfor the position of speaker belong to the group.
The caucus was formed by Republican members who considered the leadership of the House too amenable to compromise with House Democrats and the Obama administration. Ironically the group was borne of frustration with the Republican Study Committee , a once similarly minded caucus established during the Nixon administration, which had lost its insurgent character. Unlike the, the Freedom Caucus’s membership was secret and invitation-only.
Freedom Caucus members want to cut spending and shrink the government. Many support a national ban on abortion and greater restrictions on immigration. Much of that is standard conservative fare. But the caucus is willing to deploy hardball tactics that other lawmakers eschew—threatening sovereign default, for example, or holding vital legislation on budgets or the debt ceiling hostage—in pursuit of its goals.
Mr McCarthy’s concessions will empower the caucus like never before. He promised to reduce spending to the level of the 2022 fiscal year; to restore the “motion to vacate”, which allows a single congressman to call a snap vote to oust the speaker ; and to install several Freedom Caucus members on the Rules Committee, which decides what bills are presented to the House. Mr McCarthy will also allow amendments to appropriations bills . Rank-and-file lawmakers will find it easier to block spending.
The Freedom Caucus has the most leverage when the Republican majority is thin, as it is now, with a margin of only four votes. Moderate Republicans could work with Democrats to head off the caucus. Tony Gonzales, a Republican from Texas, said he would vote against the package of rules that Mr McCarthy agreed to when it comes before the House on January 9th; Nancy Mace of South Carolina said she was “on the fence”. But bipartisanship proved to be Mr Boehner’s downfall.
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