In yet another positive development in the new 118th Congress, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has so far kept his promise to appoint Freedom Caucus members — including those who opposed his candidacy for speaker — to key committee seats. For example, representatives Andrew Clyde of Georgia (Freedom Index score 93 percent) and Michael Cloud of Texas (Freedom Index score 88 percent) will receive seats on the House Appropriations Committee, where they will have an opportunity to put the reins on spending. Byron Donalds of Florida (Freedom Index score 93 percent) and freshman Andy Ogles of Tennessee, two more of the 20 who opposed McCarthy’s bid, will be joining Ralph Norman of South Carolina (Freedom Index score 83 percent) on the House Financial Services Committee.
The House Oversight Committee — the House’s main investigative committee — will be full of Freedom Caucus members, some of whom made no secret of their distaste for McCarthy during the contentious speaker election process. Colorado’s Lauren Boebert (Freedom Index score 93 percent), Pennsylvania’s Scott Perry (Freedom Index score 78 percent), and Florida’s Byron Donalds and freshman congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna will all have seats on that committee. Additionally, the committee memberships of Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene (Freedom Index score 97 percent) and Arizona’s Paul Gosar (Freedom Index score 83 percent), who were kicked off the committee by Democrats in 2021 for making controversial statements, will be restored. This means that the Oversight Committee — an organization that, via its investigatory mandate, can have a very significant extra-legislative effect not dependent on the whims of the Senate or the White House — will be effectively controlled by the Freedom Caucus, a very wise allocation of strength under circumstances where passing good positive legislation will be next to impossible.
Finally, the powerful House Judiciary Committee, which oversees the administration of justice and impeachment and which is already pledged to investigate the abuse of power by the Justice Department, is chaired by the very capable Freedom Caucus leader Jim Jordan of Ohio (Freedom Index score 82 percent), who will enjoy the support of existing committee members Matt Gaetz of Florida (Freedom Index score 81 percent), Andy Biggs of Arizona (Freedom Index score 93 percent), Chip Roy of Texas (Freedom Index score 93 percent), and Thomas Massie of Kentucky (Freedom Index score 99 percent). Massie will also be serving on a brand new “Weaponization of Government” subcommittee.
This writer remembers well the sense of elation and vindication when former Congressman Ron Paul — who was, at the time, nearly the only voice of sanity on Capitol Hill — finally received a plum committee position with his ascent to the chair of the House Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology in 2011. Now, a little more than a decade later, the House is populated with dozens of fierce Ron Paul mini-me’s, many of whom are now in positions to make a real difference thanks to the concessions extracted from McCarthy. To his credit, McCarthy has so far played the part of a cheerful warrior, willing to keep his word despite the often bitter back-and-forth that characterized the nomination and election process.
Democrats, meanwhile, have been uttering the usual shrill warnings about a takeover by “right-wing extremists.” Huffed White House spokesman Ian Sams, “Republicans are handing the keys of oversight to the most extreme MAGA members of the Republican caucus who promote violent rhetoric and dangerous conspiracy theories.” Such mean-spirited hyperbole, as is usually the case with leftist Democrats, is a hopeful sign that things are on the right track, and that, for once, freedom lovers and constitutionalists within the GOP may be gaining the upper hand.
Stay tuned.
