Freedom Caucus
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House Freedom Caucus
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|---|---|
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| Chairman | Mark Meadows (NC) |
| Founded | January 26, 2015 |
| Split from | Republican Study Committee |
| Ideology |
Conservatism Fiscal conservatism Social conservatism |
| Political position | Right-wing to Far-right |
| National affiliation | Republican Party |
| Seats in the House |
29 / 435
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The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of conservative Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It was formed in 2015 by a group of Congressmen as what member Jim Jordan called a "smaller, more cohesive, more agile and more active" group of conservatives.
Many members are also part of the Republican Study Committee, another conservative House group. The caucus is sympathetic to the Tea Party movement. According to its mission statement, it "gives a voice to countless Americans who feel that Washington does not represent them. We support open, accountable and limited government, the Constitution and the rule of law, and policies that promote the liberty, safety and prosperity of all Americans."
The origins of the caucus lie at the mid-January 2015 Republican congressional retreat in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Nine conservative active Republican members of the House began planning a new Congressional caucus separate from the Republican Study Committee and apart from the House Republican Conference. The group ultimately became the nine founding members and the first board of directors for the new caucus consisting of Republican Representatives Scott Garrett of New Jersey, Jim Jordan of Ohio, John Fleming of Louisiana, Matt Salmon of Arizona, Justin Amash of Michigan, Raúl Labrador of Idaho, Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, Ron DeSantis of Florida and Mark Meadows of North Carolina. The group debated over a name for their new caucus eventually settling on "House Freedom Caucus" (HFC) because, according to founding member Mick Mulvaney, "it was so generic and universally awful that we had no reason to be against it." The group of nine founding members in Hershey set as a criterion for new members that they had to be willing to vote against Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner on legislation that the group opposed.
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