Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is championing the form of hardline stances within the authorities shutdown combat lengthy favored by the Home Freedom Caucus.
The Speaker has canceled beforehand scheduled votes within the decrease chamber and saved the Home in prolonged recess as he goals to place most strain on Senate Democrats to just accept the “clean” stopgap to re-open the federal government, declining to barter because the minority social gathering makes calls for on well being care coverage.
He dismissed the prospect of transferring a stand-alone measure to pay the troops within the shutdown, saying Democrats ought to vote for the persevering with decision (CR) funding measures in the event that they don’t need service members to overlook a paycheck — although President Trump appears to have made the problem moot by directing the Pentagon to make use of different funds to pay their salaries.
These are precisely the form of shrewd transfer lengthy advocated by the Freedom Caucus: Cross a “righteous invoice” within the Home, after which attempt to jam the Senate by leaving city.
And it’s earned him heaps of reward from the group, a dynamic that was as soon as unthinkable from the caucus that has spent many of the final decade exerting strain on GOP leaders.
The Freedom Caucus hosted a press name with Johnson on Friday — the first-ever Freedom Caucus-hosted occasion that includes a Home Speaker. Members spent the entire name backing up Johnson’s strikes.
Home Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) referred to as the decision “history in the making” that “reflects how far we’ve come as a movement from a small group of conservatives …. to a leading voice shaping the direction of the policy in the country.”
The Freedom Caucus has been much-criticized this 12 months as its members repeatedly held up motion on the GOP’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” of Trump’s tax minimize and spending priorities, earlier than folding to permit the laws to maneuver ahead, generally with out substantive modifications. However the group’s members argue that the steep cuts in that laws have been a lot bigger than anybody predicted could be doable, due partially to stands it made early within the course of, and that its conservative affect on laws is larger than ever.
This shutdown combat reveals how confrontational conservative politics is now not a thorn in congressional leaders’ facet, however core to the Republican legislative technique.
It’s a change that different rank-and-file members aren’t essentially pleased with.
A number of members have publicly criticized the Speaker’s transfer to cancel Home votes indefinitely, together with ex-Freedom Caucus member Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.), whereas sources inform The Hill that different members privately voiced issues with the technique on a members name final week. These members argue the Home ought to negotiate
Johnson in a Monday press convention dismissed the vocal minority, arguing that the overwhelming majority of his GOP members agree with the technique.
“You can poll individual House Republicans, maybe you should, and 98.7 percent of them will tell you that this is the right thing,” Johnson stated of retaining the Home out.
“We are working on appropriations,” Johnson stated. “The next package of bills is being prepared.”
The discontent is all of the extra cause for the Freedom Caucus to again up the Speaker for taking its most popular actions within the combat.
“We’re aligned with the Speaker,” Harris stated Friday, mentioning that it’s the group’s expectation {that a} balanced funds modification shall be dropped at a vote on the Home ground.
“We both view — the Speaker and the Freedom Caucus view — the federal debt and the federal deficit as an existential threat, and we’re working arm in arm with him to address that,” Harris stated.
It helps that Washington just isn’t solely underneath trifecta authorities management, however that Freedom Caucus members have lengthy labored hand-in-hand with White Home Workplace of Administration and Finances Director Russell Vought to advance their conservative goals, and belief the judgement of the Trump administration.
Johnson was by no means a Freedom Caucus member, however does sincerely favor extra conservative insurance policies — having beforehand chaired the Republican Examine Committee, the biggest conservative caucus within the Home that’s extra targeted on coverage and fewer on ways.
As Speaker, he has entertained the Freedom Caucus-preferred ways earlier than, however with the tiny Home GOP majority there was not at all times the Republican assist essential to successfully execute such a plan.
Forward of the September 2024 end-of-fiscal-year funding deadline, as an example, members of the group had pitched attaching a invoice requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote to an in any other case clear stopgap measure, after which leaving the Senate to take care of the laws. Johnson did put such a invoice on the ground that month, nevertheless it failed as a consequence of opposition from some Republicans, and Congress later handed a “clean” three-month funding repair.
This time, there aren’t any partisan measures hooked up to the funding stopgap to elicit reasonable GOP reservations. Republican leaders argue that ought to make it straightforward for Democrats to vote to fund the federal government.
However the size of the shutdown has stunned many Republicans who had anticipated Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to rapidly fold, as he did in March. On day 14 of the shutdown, the 2 sides are dug in, ad infinitum.
That naturally calls into query the prudence of constant the stay-away-from-Washington tactic, particularly if the general public begins to show to extra decisively blaming Republicans and Trump for the shutdown.
I requested Harris what it means for the legitimacy and effectiveness of Freedom Caucus ways if the shutdown does in the end finish with the Home coming again into session or making well being care coverage commitments to Democrats.
“We exist within the framework of a Congress, of a legislative body where there are many opinions have to be taken into account before a final conclusion is reached,” Harris stated. “We’re happy that we are increasingly, over time, more of a part of that decision making process, and we expect to be part of that decision making process going forward.”
Welcome to The Motion, a weekly publication wanting on the influences and debates on the suitable in Washington. I am Emily Brooks, Home management reporter at The Hill.
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DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS BECOMES LIBERTY VOTE
Dominion Voting Techniques, the voting know-how firm that was on the heart of controversy and false stolen-election claims after President Trump’s 2020 loss, has been bought, its new possession introduced final week.
It’s bought a brand new patriotic title, Liberty Vote. That firm’s sole non-public proprietor is Scott Leiendecker, a former Republican director of elections for the town of St. Louis, Mo., who went on to discovered KNOWiNK — the biggest supplier of digital ballot books throughout america.
The sale quantity was not disclosed. The corporate’s defamation lawsuits in opposition to media retailers over 2020 election claims resulted in main multimillion-dollar settlements, together with a $787 million settlement with Fox Information, a $67 million settlement with Newsmax and a confidential settlement with former Trump legal professional Rudy Giuliani. Additional protection from me in The Hill…
NPR’s Miles Parks notes: “It will be interesting to watch then how the election integrity activists – the most ardent ones on the right – take this news, considering it’s just, at this point, a change in ownership.”
CNN reviews: “The company is also being repped by the Logan Circle Group, which vows to fight for ‘America First’ and conservative values.”
BAD BUNNY HALFTIME MANIA
MAGA world is up in arms concerning the NFL’s transfer to make Puerto Rican artist Unhealthy Bunny its 2026 Tremendous Bowl half time headliner. The Spanish-language artist has been extremely crucial of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
President Trump informed Newsmax that he doesn’t know who Unhealthy Bunny is, calling the transfer “crazy.” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) stated Unhealthy Bunny was a “terrible decision” for a half time artist, suggesting somebody “who appeals to a broader audience” like Trump-favorite Lee Greenwood of “God Bless the USA” fame.
Spotify reviews that Unhealthy Bunny was the third-most-streamed artist on the platform globally in 2024 — although he didn’t crack the highest 10 within the U.S.
Turning Level USA is planning counter-programming, dubbing it the “All-American Halftime Show.” My colleague Dominick Mastrangelo reviews: “A survey on the site asks respondents to select from a number of genres they’d like to hear during the show, including country, hip-hop, rock or ‘anything in English.’”
ON MY CALENDAR
Monday, Oct. 20: The American Petroleum Institute hosts a panel dialogue on the way forward for U.S. power infrastructure and allowing reform, 3 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 21: Vice President Vance sits for a dialogue with Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle in an occasion co-hosted by the Alfa Institute and CGCN.
Thursday, October 23: The Intercollegiate Research Institute hosts a night with Calley Means.
THREE MORE THINGS
President Trump bought a COVID-19 booster vaccine at his semiannual bodily final week — a notable transfer on condition that well being advisers for Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. endorsed eliminating a advice that seniors get the shot (Axios). What number of different Republicans are getting the shot? The Washington Put up appears to be engaged on a narrative about that, with a number of Republicans posting screenshots of queries about their vaccine plans, criticizing the query.
Plugging my piece on what’s up with Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and her deepening splits with the Republican social gathering and Trump. Her positions put her on one thing of an island within the GOP, although she informed me that evaluation is “ridiculous.” One under-reported reality: She’s had just a few huge employees modifications over the past 12 months. Her longtime spokesman and deputy chief of employees Nick Dyer left in Might; her longtime prime political aide Isaiah Wartman additionally left after 2024 to hitch Trump admin.
A push is brewing to re-analyze the 2020 Census and the way it apportioned congressional districts to states. Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) claimed in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that the bureau’s methodology underneath the Biden administration “scrambles the populations of states and voting districts.” The subject was first elevated by the Russ Vought-connected Heart for Renewing America in an August coverage paper.
WHAT I’M READING
The Dispatch’s Jonah Goldberg: The Tucker I Knew
Wall Avenue Journal’s Josh Dawsey: Trump, Feeling Emboldened, Pushes Agenda Into Increased Gear
Washington Put up’s Liz Goodwin, Marianna Sotomayor and Riley Beggin: Congress is dropping its grip on the ability to spend People’ cash
Newsweek’s Josh Hammer Responds to Candace Owens’ Assault on Him
