History
The caucus originated during the mid–January 2015 Republican congressional retreat in Hershey, Pennsylvania.[23] 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".[24] Nine conservative active Republican members of the House began planning a new congressional caucus separate from the Republican Study Committee and apart from the House Republican Conference. 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.[25]
Mick Mulvaney told Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker "We had twenty names, and all of them were terrible," Mulvaney said. "None of us liked the Freedom Caucus, either, but it was so generic and so universally awful that we had no reason to be against it." In the same interview, Lizza reported that "one of the working titles for the group was the Reasonable Nutjob Caucus."[26][24]
During the crisis over the funding of the Department of Homeland Security in early 2015, the caucus offered four plans for resolution, but all were rejected by the Republican leadership. One of the caucus leaders, Raúl Labrador of Idaho, said the caucus would offer an alternative that the most conservative Republican members could support.[27][needs update]
Following the election of Donald Trump, Mick Mulvaney said "Trump wants to turn Washington upside down — that was his first message and his winning message. We want the exact same thing. To the extent that he's got to convince Republicans to change Washington, we're there to help him ... and I think that makes us Donald Trump's best allies in the House."[28]
Opposition to Speaker of the House John Boehner
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 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner on legislation that the group opposed.[29]
The House Freedom Caucus was involved in the resignation of Boehner on September 25, 2015, and the ensuing leadership battle for the new speaker.[30] 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.[31][32] Boehner found it increasingly difficult to manage House Republicans with the fierce opposition of conservative members of the Republican Party in the House, and he sparred with those House Republicans in 2013 over their willingness to shut down the government in pursuit of goals such as repealing the Affordable Care Act. These Republicans later created and became members of the Freedom Caucus when it was created in 2015.[29][33][34][35]
After Boehner resigned as speaker, Kevin McCarthy, the House majority leader, was initially the lead contender to succeed him, but the Freedom Caucus withheld its support.[36] However, McCarthy withdrew from the race on October 8, 2015, after appearing to suggest that the Benghazi investigation's purpose had been to lower the approval ratings of Hillary Clinton.[37][38] On the same day as McCarthy's withdrawal, Reid Ribble resigned from the Freedom Caucus saying he had joined to promote certain policies and could not support the role that it was playing in the leadership race.[39]
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.[40] While the group could not reach the 80% approval that was needed to give an official endorsement, on October 21, 2015, it announced that it had reached a supermajority support for Ryan.[41] On October 29, 2015, Ryan succeeded John Boehner as the speaker of the House.[42]
Backlash in 2016
The group faced backlash from the Republican Party establishment during the 2016 election cycle.[43] One of its members, Congressman Tim Huelskamp, a Tea Party Republican representing Kansas' First District, was defeated during a primary election on August 2, 2016, by Roger Marshall.[44]
Rejection of American Health Care Act in 2017
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.[45][46][47]
Two days later, President Donald Trump publicly criticized the Freedom Caucus and other right-wing groups, such as the Club for Growth and Heritage Action, that opposed the bill. Trump tweeted: "Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Obamacare!"[48][49] On the same day, Congressman Ted Poe of Texas resigned from the Freedom Caucus.[50] On March 30, 2017, Trump "declared war" on the Freedom Caucus, sending a tweet urging Republicans to "fight them" in the 2018 midterm elections "if they don’t get on the team" (i.e., support Trump's proposals).[51] Vocal Freedom Caucus member Justin Amash responded by accusing Trump of "succumb[ing] to the D.C. Establishment."[52]
Trump later developed a closer relationship with the caucus chair, Mark Meadows.[53] 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.[54]
Criticism from Boehner
On October 30, 2017, Vanity Fair published an interview with Republican former House speaker John 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."[55]
Impeachment proceedings against President Trump
In May 2019, the Freedom Caucus officially condemned one of its founding members, Justin Amash, after he called for the impeachment of President Trump.[56] Amash announced in June 2019 that he had left the caucus, saying "I didn't want to be a further distraction for the group."[57]
Members of the Freedom Caucus have taken an active role in the impeachment investigation into President Trump that was launched in September 2019. Members of the Caucus have called for the release of the full transcript of former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker's testimony to Congress.[58]
The caucus was described as "Trump's main defender" during the impeachment proceedings in the House.[59]
Meadows' appointment as WH chief of staff and Liz Cheney criticism
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.[60]
Freedom Caucus members have called on Liz Cheney to resign as Chair of the House Republican Conference, due to her vocal criticism of Trump's foreign policy, response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and use of social media,[61] leading to her firing May 12, 2021 and replacement with Elise Stefanik two days later.
2020 National Defense Authorization Act
In December 2020, the caucus sided with Donald Trump and opposed the NDAA on the grounds that it did not include a provision to repeal Section 230.[62]
