Members of the fiscally conservative, no-compromise, anti-establishment House Freedom Caucus (HFC) came into Congress on the Tea Party wave of 2010 and have since come to wield a significant amount of power. As a voting bloc of some 40 members, the HFC's most high-profile accomplishment is influencing the resignation of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, on Sept. 25, 2015, and the rise of the current House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
GOP leaders, like the HFC, these days talk more about responsible federal budgeting, cutting deficits and pushing back on domestic spending than about giving more to the military. At the Heritage Foundation's 2016 Conservative Policy Summit in Washington, Idaho GOP Rep. Raul Labrador reportedly said his party must "wake up" and regain the public's trust by tackling a $19 trillion debt through cuts at the Pentagon — whose budget makes up half of discretionary spending — and elsewhere.
"If you're a true fiscal conservative, you're going to look at all the things," said Labrador, one of the founding members of the HFC. "What are we doing in the Pentagon that is bloated? ... Are there too many generals in the Pentagon? I think the answer is yes."
The HFC holds different sacred cows than Republicans traditionally have, and because it has more members than the GOP has a majority in the House, and in the Senate, it can withdraw its support and undermine that governing majority. Budget showdowns have become the norm in Congress.
"It's changed the dynamics of how Congress has worked, and I would daresay the [GOP majority] has become more like a governing coalition in Congress than a two-party system," said Todd Harrison, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "We haven't adjusted to that, that we effectively have a multiparty system. It forces [establishment] Republicans to either compromise with the Freedom Caucus or compromise with Democrats to get anything done."
There are signs the Freedom Caucus’s influence may be waning, as Ryan has worked to avert stunts that might erode the GOP’s hold on the majority -- like a postponed vote to impeach the Internal Revenue Service commissioner. Ryan months ago backed off a commitment to regular order so he could help spending bills advance.
The HFC also failed to get the year-long continuing resolution preferred by its members over the three-month stopgap measure Congress passed last month to avert a government shutdown.
Yet members of the HFC can definitely claim one victory. Tough, high-profile debates over budget and spending priorities now dominate Congress.
This article is part of a larger Defense News 30-year anniversary project, showcasing the people, programs and innovations from the last three decades that most shaped the global security arena. Go to defensenews.com/30th to see all of our coverage.
Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.
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