.HayesBrown: The House Freedom Caucus is definitely going through it lately. But any schadenfreude might be premature.
that made her a star in the first place. But she gets that the power of the purse is the GOP’s strongest asset.
It’s on that front that the right flank has managed to get some results already, detrimental as they may be. McCarthy has been willing to yield to conservative demands that reframe the funding levels agreed upon in the debt deal as ceilings, rather than as the actual amounts to be spent. That move has, as Biden and the Democratic-controlled Senate won’t go for that sort of budgetary chicanery.
But there’s where the House Freedom Caucus’ disarray goes from comedy to potential tragedy. It’s impossible to articulate what the disjointed members would actually want, which dilutes their effectiveness as a bloc. That would be ideal in a world where McCarthy controlled more seats in the House, but instead it means there’s no telling what will anger just enough Freedom Caucus members that a spending bill suddenly goes down in flames.
It’s literally impossible to know how much power Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry, R-Pa., has to herd this set of cats into line. The group’s bylaws are kept under lock and key, which is part of why it’s so hard to parse the rigmarole with Greene. On that front, it's telling that on Monday evening, when McCarthy received an ultimatum on government spending, it didn’t come under House Freedom Caucus letterhead but— including Perry.
Twenty-one Republicans’ voting in opposition is more than enough to sink any legislation in this Congress. But the conspicuous lack of buy-in from the full caucus represents a level of autonomy that could see individual members come forward with their own additional demands down the line.
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