Things haven’t gone great for the House Freedom Caucus lately. Speaker Mike Johnson just passed a continuing resolution — his third since taking the gavel — and the group’s former chair says they’ve now found themselves in an unusual position: without a lot of power.
“There’s no leverage, that’s the point, it’s surrender. You’ve got eyes in your head, there’s no leverage,” Rep. Scott Perry told NOTUS after the House passed its latest short-term funding bill on Thursday.
Perry was at the helm of the Freedom Caucus in early 2023, as Republicans regained the majority, and is still a prominent member. He was one of several conservatives to push then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy to agree to a deal that made it easier for some of his colleagues to eventually oust McCarthy a few months later. In an interview in his office, Perry said the Freedom Caucus now finds itself in “a bit of a transition” under Johnson.