Home Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) has taken the famously confrontational group in a barely extra agreeable course because it prepares for a Trump-controlled Washington, the place the objective will likely be to help the incoming president’s coverage agenda somewhat than exert most stress on a Democratic administration.
However at the same time as Harris and different members of the group stress their help for President-elect Trump, clashes between Trump and financial hawks within the group are already rising.
It is going to be as much as Harris, who in December was formally reelected to steer the group via the top of 2025, to focus the eye of about three dozen members on a standard goal.
“The best way to advance the conservative agenda is to not be constantly viewed as an obstacle,” Harris mentioned in an interview in December. “That’s why we came to an agreement on the motion to vacate.”
Harris was key in negotiating an settlement amongst Home Republicans in November to lift the edge for forcing a vote to oust the Speaker, generally known as the “motion to vacate,” from one to 9 Republicans. In change, others within the convention dropped their pushes for antichaos inside GOP guidelines, reminiscent of punishing members who bucked the social gathering on procedural votes.
“That was an example of how I think we should operate, which is to actually come to an agreement — because, you know, we are reasonable people. Come to agreements. They’re not going to be perfect for everybody, but they’re going to move us in the right direction,” Harris mentioned.
The Freedom Caucus members additionally paved the way in which for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to be formally reelected final week with out forcing him into a number of ballots — although not with out sending a warning shot at him. The group’s board, led by Harris, mentioned in a letter after the Speakership vote that whereas it didn’t wish to delay well timed certification of Trump’s electors, Johnson “must prove he will not fail to enact President Trump’s bold agenda.”
Harris was additionally amongst those that withheld help for Johnson up till the ground vote.
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), chair of the Primary Avenue Caucus who additionally negotiated the movement to vacate settlement, mentioned he “love[s] working with Andy Harris” and slicing offers with him – noting that Harris’s predecessor, former Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), was “a more difficult personality to get to yes.”
Harris grew to become chair of the group after Good stepped down, having misplaced a main problem to now-Rep. John McGuire III (R-Va.), who loved the help of Trump partially as a result of Good had beforehand endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for president.
That main additionally triggered different turmoil within the group, when it voted to take away Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) after he endorsed McGuire. Davidson had beforehand lamented that the group relied “too little on influence with and among our colleagues.”
Trump’s looming return to the White Home seems to be a part of the explanation for the shift towards being extra amenable to negotiation somewhat than hard-line stances.
“Obviously our principles remain the same, but how we implement them and how we try to get them integrated into policies, obviously, is different under the system we have now versus when President Trump is president,” Harris mentioned.
Now, Harris says, help for Trump will likely be a defining side of the group.
“Pound for pound, or per capita, we are the strongest supporters of President Trump anywhere in Washington. This group is it,” Harris mentioned.
“Since we believe the president will be driving the House leadership agenda, that means it’ll be much, much easier, I believe, for us to influence the House leadership than it is under the current circumstance, or even in President Trump’s first term,” Harris added.
There have, nonetheless, already been dust-ups between members of the Freedom Caucus and Trump.
After Trump made a last-minute demand for a debt ceiling improve in a authorities funding invoice in December, various members of the group — a lot of whom are fiscal hawks who’re demanding spending cuts as a situation of elevating the debt ceiling — voted towards a Trump-endorsed invoice that included a debt ceiling hike.
Trump went so far as to name for a main problem to Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) after he expressed opposition to the debt ceiling hike until there are spending cuts.
There’s additionally a cut up between the Freedom Caucus and Trump on the popular technique to push via his legislative agenda via a course of known as reconciliation that bypasses the specter of a Democratic filibuster within the Senate, however can solely be used a restricted variety of instances in a 12 months.
The Freedom Caucus had endorsed a two-bill technique, beginning with a border-focused bundle and transferring to tax and vitality points later. Trump mentioned he would favor a one-bill technique. However the members of Freedom Caucus and Trump, although, appear open to whichever technique is best and environment friendly.
Harris, an anesthesiologist, has been in Congress to see each part of the Freedom Caucus, having represented Maryland’s 1st District since 2011.
And he’s additionally seen the transformation of the Republican Get together.
“It’s a very different party and very different base, and I think the demographics of the last election showed that. And I think it’s up to us to actually deliver on what Mr. Trump’s vision for the Republican Party is, which is the party of the working man and woman,” Harris mentioned.
Harris can also be prone to deliver worthwhile perspective within the coming spending and funding battles attributable to his highly effective place on the Home Appropriations Committee, chairing its subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Growth, and the Meals and Drug Administration.
In between engaged on laws or crafting technique along with his Freedom Caucus colleagues, Harris is prone to be engaged on one among his favourite hobbies — repairing previous automobiles. He counted off no less than eight automobiles that he owns, and lamented a rise in titling charges in Maryland.
“I really like working on cars,” Harris mentioned, speaking about one among his pickup vans and an previous Lincoln City Automobile and plotting automobile repairs for the winter break. “They don’t make them like they used to.”
