House Conservatives Emboldened, Despite Crackdown
The tension between GOP leadership and House conservatives might have eased somewhat, now that Rep. Mark Meadows has his subcommittee gavel back. But the distrust, even anger, within the conference after last month’s crackdown on House Freedom Caucus members hasn’t quite been relieved.
Instead, leadership’s effort to subdue the 34 Republicans who defied the speaker on a June 11 trade vote seems to have left conservatives emboldened, not cowed.
Evidence of that came just before the Fourth of July recess, when HFC members made it clear that Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz needed to reinstate North Carolina’s Meadows as chairman of an Oversight subcommittee.
In a roughly two-hour meeting of the panel’s Republicans — a meeting that HFC Chairman Jim Jordan described to CQ Roll Call as “a good family discussion” — HFC members presented Chaffetz with a reality. He needed their votes to pick a new chairman — and Chaffetz was in the minority.
Oversight — not generally considered a plum committee assignment — is stacked with HFC members. Roughly half of the 25 Republicans on the committee are, like Meadows, in the Freedom Caucus; and many more were sympathetic to Meadows, who is well-liked in the conference. (Read more from “House Conservatives Emboldened, Despite Crackdown” HERE)
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