Six months after Hamas attacked Israel, the GOP-led U.S. House of Representatives has so far failed to agree on a bill addressing aid for Israel. Ukraine aid also is blocked.
But on Tuesday, the House sent articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate, where his conviction faces slim prospects. Meanwhile, the Hunter Biden investigation also is proceeding in the House.
Welcome to the 2024 version of the House, where one group has an oversized impact on how Congress works, or mostly doesn’t work: the far-right Freedom Caucus, the House’s most conservative, most MAGA-loving, most election-denying and least compromising tribe.
Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan are among the celebrity politicians who call the caucus home. Past members include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Trump’s final two chiefs of staff: Mark Meadows and Mick Mulvaney.
Marjorie Taylor Greene was a caucus member before she was kicked out in 2023 for feuding with Boebert.
Some of the House’s most extreme and contentious voices remain in: Bob Good (Va.), Chip Roy (Texas), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), James Comer (Ky.), Scott Perry (Pa.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Andrew Clyde (Ga.) and Harriet Hageman, who succeeded Liz Cheney in Wyoming.
Many of the Freedom Caucus’ estimated three dozen members self-identify as Christian and are endorsed by leaders of conservative Christian pro-life groups.
Many of the Freedom Caucus’ estimated three dozen members self-identify as Christian and are endorsed by leaders of conservative Christian pro-life groups. (Membership is estimated because the group does not share its membership list, in part because some members don’t want to be publicly identified as members.)
Some members are best known for their embarrassing antics and frequent appearances on Fox News and other conservative outlets. Overall, members are known less for their legislative accomplishments than for squashing the legislation of others, including recent bipartisan bills on surveillance and the border that Trump asked them to kill.
Founded in 2015, the Freedom Caucus’ first success was booting GOP House Speaker John Boehner from his job.
Boehner’s criticism of the caucus still seems to hold: “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.”
Caucus members also were instrumental in getting rid of Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year.
Now, some members have their hearts set on ousting Speaker Mike Johnson for violating one of their sacred prohibitions: working with Democrats to get things done. But the caucus doesn’t make a move until leaders line up 80% of members to support it.
The House Freedom Caucus now has offspring in 11 states, thanks to the State Freedom Caucus Network, which was launched in 2021, according to the Associated Press.
The results have been as one might expect, reported Politico: “The Freedom Caucus has exported its model. Many of the 11 legislatures with state-based Freedom Caucuses have seen their Republican majorities splinter and descend into bitter conflict with the application of the Congress-honed tactics.”
In the House, some Freedom Caucus members spend only a few years serving before leaving for more lucrative work in lobbying, broadcasting or Christian activism.
For example, former representative and Baptist minister Jody Hice now leads FRC Action, the lobbying arm of Family Research Council, the activist group founded by James Dobson’s Focus on the Family 41 years ago.
Mark Green (Tenn.), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, recently announced he would leave Congress after only four years. The former Army Ranger medic said his work in Congress had been accomplished with the Mayorkas impeachment articles.
“I promised my constituents to pass legislation to secure our borders and to hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable,” Green said in a statement reported by The New York Times. “Today, with the House having passed H.R. 2 and Secretary Mayorkas impeached, it is time for me to return home.”
Focus on the Family has embraced Boebert and other Freedom Caucus members who embrace its legislative agenda, including:
- Transgender medical procedures
- “Reining in big tech censorship”
- “Investigating the federal government’s censorship of conservatives”
- Prosecuting porn
- Fighting vaccine mandates in the armed services
