Member-only story
The House Freedom Caucus is a Joke
A right-wing Maryland anesthesiologist has put it to sleep
Have you been following the kabuki dance of the once-feared House Freedom Caucus? Probably not. The caucus, sometimes referred to as the HFC, was once the spiritual successor to the Tea Party movement, but it has lost its spine. It once stood for reducing the national debt (among other things), but today, it is more of a nuisance, usually to other Republicans than to Democrats, than a political force.
There was much in President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” that should have been non-starters for the HFC, but key members of the group, including blowhard Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), voted “present” on Sunday night in the House Budget Committee. Roy’s “present” vote, along with three other Republicans, allowed the bill to move forward in the legislative process. The prospects for the bill’s enactment increased dramatically as a result.
Mind you, there is little in the “big, beautiful bill” that should be enacted. The bill cuts Medicaid (although not enough to earn the support of the Freedom Caucus) and, due to making Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, would increase the national debt by over four trillion dollars. Other provisions in the bill seek to legitimize many of Trump’s autocratic actions of the last three and a half months.
