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 The members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus represent a
small slice of America, but they have attained outsized influence as
central players in a congressional leadership vacuum that has
consumed the Republican Party.
The group, sometimes known as the "hell no caucus" for its refusal
to compromise, does not disclose its membership roster but appears
to number about three dozen, according to a Reuters tally, media
reports and counts by political research firms. Reuters has
independently confirmed 33 of the members.
Their defining creed: to ensure that Republican leaders carry out
what they say is a conservative mandate from voters even if that
disrupts normal congressional business.
Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, a former wrestling coach who chairs
the bare-knuckled caucus, told Reuters his secretive group is
sometimes unfairly blamed by leaders who are "not doing what voters
sent them here to do."
"Our leadership has consistently failed to make the argument for
conservative principles and ceded the field" to President Barack
Obama on key issues, Jordan wrote in an emailed response to
criticism that the group was actually hurting Republicans.
 (Map showing Freedom Caucus districts: http://reut.rs/1OFmWOJ)
Jordan's blunt assertion was true to form for the group, which
formed in January as the latest - and most potent - offshoot of the
Tea Party movement.
The caucus was seen as central to House Speaker John Boehner's
decision last month to step down, and to the sudden withdrawal last
week by No. 2 House Republican Kevin McCarthy from the race to
replace him. It is now a key variable in whether Paul Ryan, a former
Republican vice presidential nominee, will make a bid for the
speaker's job.
Some Republicans say the group is effectively killing their party's
ability to run the House, and damaging Republican electoral
prospects next year with counter-productive tactics that end up
helping the Democrats.
"The Freedom Caucus has shattered the long-standing precedent that
the majority party selects the speaker and decides which bills will
be voted on," said California Republican Tom McClintock, who quit
the caucus last month.
The effect may well be "to move the political center of gravity in
the House dramatically to the left," he told Reuters. "That could be
very damaging for Republican prospects in the next election."
Caucus members have asked speaker candidates whether they would
commit to impeach Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John
Koskinen and ensure that House bills do not contain funding for the
women's health organization Planned Parenthood, Obamacare, the Iran
nuclear deal or Obama’s immigration reforms.
They also have asked candidates to link any increase in the U.S.
debt ceiling to reforms in "entitlement" programs such as Medicare
and Medicaid, setting the stage for a possible showdown with Obama
in the coming weeks.
WEALTHY, RURAL, MALE
Though small in number, the caucus punches above its weight by
controlling enough votes to make the difference between Republicans
carrying a majority, or not, in the House.
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There are 247 members of the House Republican majority. Subtract
some three dozen Freedom Caucus members and Republicans are short of
the 218 votes needed to pass legislation in the 435-member chamber
-- or to elect a speaker.
Nearly all of the members are middle-aged white men and most come
from rural districts, though some are from the suburbs and "exurbs"
of cities such as Atlanta, Houston and Phoenix. None come from New
England or the West Coast.
As a Midwesterner, Jordan stands out in the caucus. Of the roughly
three dozen members, 80 percent are Southerners or Westerners, with
South Carolina, Florida and Arizona heavily represented.
Four out of every five of them were first elected in 2008 or more
recently. So most have never served with any president other than
Obama, a Democrat with whom they are constantly at odds.
Only one of the known caucus members is a woman: Wyoming's Cynthia
Lummis, a 61-year-old multi-millionaire rancher who has been
involved in state and national politics since 1979.
The group's members on average are wealthier than their
congressional colleagues, according to 2013 estimates compiled by
the Center for Responsive Politics.
Caucus members had an average 2013 net worth of more than $5 million
each, though that figure was skewed by just six members who have
amassed fortunes ranging from $14 million to $36 million, according
to the Center. A few had negative net worth.
The average net worth of members of Congress is about $1 million,
including the House and Senate, the Center reported.
More than a dozen caucus members are career politicians; 10 are
lawyers; six made careers in real estate; six in business; and six
in medicine. The group includes three former military pilots, an
economics professor, a farmer, a judge, a pastor and a veterinarian.
Three are Latinos.
Brookings Institution senior fellow Sarah Binder said the caucus
members' relative inexperience provided one clue to their
frustration at being hemmed in by traditional House voting rules
that favor higher-ranking lawmakers.
“They do seem to be quite a frustrated group of lawmakers, who found
themselves with their hands around the neck of the next speaker,”
she said.
(Additional reporting by Megan Cassella, Richard Cowan, David Lawder
and Andy Sullivan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Stuart Grudgings)
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