Freedom Caucus leaders critical of House GOP
Conservatives not happy with Speaker Ryan, ‘lack of plan.’
The conservative Freedom Caucus — which played a key role in House Speaker John Boeh- ner’s decision to step down in 2015 isn’t ready to over— throw House Speaker Paul Ryan yet, but members made it very clear Thursday that they’re not happy.
Speaking at a breakfast organized by Bloomberg News, Rep. Jim Jordan, R– Urbana, one of the found- ers of the ultra–conservative group, said House GOP lead- ership has lacked a plan for tackling the items they cam
paigned on last year. “Hope is not a plan,” he said. “What was the plan on
the debt ceiling. Someone tell me, what’s the plan for tax reform. What’s the corporate rate going to be?”
Jordan, who with House Freedom Caucus Chair Mark Meadows, R-North Carolina, was heading to the White House Thursday morning, said they met with Ryan Wednesday, but were unwill- ing to release details.
Still, they said, reports, such as one in the Washing- ton Post, that they were trying to find a replacement for Ryan were overblown.
“To extrapolate out that there’s some kind of lead- ership change or plan to address that is just not accurate,” Meadows said.
“It had nothing to do with leadership,” Jordan said.
But, said Meadows, if the GOP accomplishes nothing by December, “I think there’s going to be a rebellion against everybody — not just the leadership.
“If we get to December and we’ve not repealed and replaced Obamacare, we’ve not built the wall, we’ve not done tax reform, it is not going to be pretty,” he said. “It’s not just a leadership thing. It’s for all 240 members of the Republican party.”
While the group was frustrated by Trump’s Wednesday announcement that he would back a Democratic plan to extend the debt ceil- ing for three months and pay to keep the government open through mid-December, they say Trump did it because he is “myopically focused” on tax reform.
But they say that had the GOP had its own plan, Trump might’ve sided with them.
Instead, Ryan wanted to pass the debt ceiling separately from money for Hurricane Harvey recovery, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell preferred linking Harvey money with an
18-month extension of the debt ceiling.
The Freedom Caucus, meanwhile, wanted to link the debt ceiling to budget cuts. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Troy, also a member of the Freedom Caucus, said while the GOP released a set of goals at the beginning of the year, “those aren’t the plays we’re calling.”
“We just want to run the offense we put together,” Davidson said.