Members of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) voted for newly re-elected Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) as Republicans head into the 119th Congress with a slim majority. While the House Freedom Caucus, including Representatives Chip Roy (R-TX), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Eli Crane (R-AZ), did in fact vote for Speaker Johnson, it appears they did so begrudgingly. The HFC includes Florida representatives such as Byron Donalds, Greg Steube, and Anna Paulina Luna. One of the founding members of the caucus is current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) during his time as a congressman in 2015. Rep. Roy endorsed Gov. DeSantis for president during the primary season.
In a letter to their Republican colleagues, the Freedom Caucus shared that they voted for Speaker Johnson despite their "sincere reservations" about the leader and their "steadfast support of President Trump." The HFC also shared their intention to solidify a speaker quickly to ensure the certification of the election on January 6.
Moreover, the Freedom Caucus included a list of demands to "deliver on the historic mandate earned by President Trump." They asked Speaker Johnson to commit to new House rules that put representatives back to work for longer hours and with more transparent operations. These rules include:
- Modify the House calendar to work at least as hard as the Senate — which is in session five days a week for the first 10 weeks — rather than working three and a half days a week for eight of the first 10 weeks;
- Ensure any reconciliation package reduces spending and the deficit in real terms with respect to the dynamic score of tax and spending policies under recent growth trends;
- Guarantee members can offer amendments and stop putting bills on the floor that violate the 72-hour rule (members need time to read and debate legislation), rely heavily on Democrat support for passage, or that are often not supported by a majority of Republicans.
Furthermore, Reps. Roy, Biggs, Crane, and others called on Johnson to prioritize President-elect Trump's agenda through the following "America First" policies, from closing the southern border to cracking down on EV mandates:
- Fully secure the border to stop the flow of illegal aliens completely and enact permanent border security policy reforms without amnesty or immigration expansion;
- Cut rampant inflationary spending significantly to guarantee deficit reduction and a rapid path to a balanced budget;
- Not increase federal borrowing before real spending cuts are agreed to and in place;
- Reverse Biden-Harris policies immediately, including disastrous and expensive student loan bailouts, inflationary EV-mandates and Green New Deal subsidies to unleash American energy, massive subsidization of unhealthy foods in the food stamp program to make Americans healthy again and save taxpayer dollars, and much more;
- Fully embrace healthcare freedom by expanding health savings accounts and freeing them from costly regulations to empower patients and doctors, not insurance companies;
- Fix American elections completely by ensuring only citizens vote, requiring voter identification, enforcing same-day (or close to same-day) voting, and securing ballots;
- End stock trading by members of Congress.
Finally, the HFC ended their letter by saying that there is "zero room for error" despite the razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives.
"There is always room to negotiate on so-called 'leadership' positions under the rules; in the meantime, each one of our election certificates is still equal. Personalities can be debated later, but right now there is zero room for error on the policies the American people demanded when they voted for President Trump — the ones necessary to save the country. We demand the House of Representatives deliver — quickly," the letter concludes.
Alongside Reps. Roy, Biggs, and Crane, HFC congressmen who signed the letter, include Reps. Andy Harris (R-MD), Scott Perry (R-PA), Clay Higgins (R-LA), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Eric Burlison (R-MO), Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Michael Cloud (R-TX), and Ralph Norman (R-SC).
