What Does the House Freedom Caucus Actually Want?

There are 21 answers, and most of them are crazypants.

Congressional leaders again kicked the budget can down the road, but it was a wimpy kickball bunt, postponing a government shutdown for all of one week. 

What do House Republicans want? While most coverage of the budget negotiations has focused on budget cuts, the border, aid to Ukraine, and aid to Israel, the House Freedom Caucus (the MAGA backbenchers who threw out Kevin McCarthy and hold a fair amount of sway over Mike Johnson) have actually listed many more demands: 21 of them in fact, in an an open letter to Johnson published on February 21.(Coincidence? Do your research.)

This list of demands is a fascinating window into the parallel psychological universe of the Far Right, in which conspiracy theories and incendiary Fox News segments are more important than any actual policy issue. Of the 21 demands, over half are either much ado about nothing, or are based on pseudo-science and Manosphere/Fox nonsense. There’s some posturing, some greatest hits, and a whole lot of delusion. None have anything to do with kitchen sink issues that, in poll after poll, Americans say they care about.  It’s mesmerizing.

So, let’s enter the Upside-Down.  Here’s the list (numbers added for your convenience):

1.         “Prohibit funding for the use of CBPOne or similar applications that facilitate the parole of millions of illegal aliens into the United States.”  I suspect your reaction, like mine, was huh? So I researched this for you. CBPOne is an apparently useful app that allows immigrants to make appointments, including for asylum claims.  But somehow this, rather than, say, increasing border officers or streamlining procedures, is where the Freedom Caucus focuses its attention. The irony? CBPOne actually helps reduce illegal immigration by keeping immigrants in the system, rather than losing them while they wait years for their appointments. (In the bill Republicans just killed were several provisions that would have accelerated that process.) Immigration is important. This is ridiculous. It’s like a parody of politics.

2.         “Reduce Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ salary to 0.”  I assume this is just showboating, as was the impeachment of Mayorkas. It reminds me of when Occupy demanded the bull statue be removed from Wall Street.

3.         “Defund the Pentagon’s illegal abortion travel fund.”  Another huh?  What this actually is, is a paid leave and travel reimbursement program that covers reproductive healthcare.  There’s nothing illegal about it.  It was instituted because Dobbs has made it harder for women in uniform to obtain an abortion, depending on where they’re based.  Texas, for example, has 15 military bases and it now takes an average of eight hours to travel to get an abortion.  Which MAGAworld wants soldiers to pay for out of vacation time? Didn’t Republicans used to honor our men and women in uniform?

4.         Prohibit funding for gun registries and red flag laws.  There is some reality to this one: there’s a federal program that aids states in implementing laws they passed so judges can take away someone’s guns if they post an imminent threat to themselves or others. Wild that anyone would oppose this, but at least it’s real.

AI Prompt: “a paranoid man in a basement gesturing wildly about the FBI headquarters, Anthony Fauci, and gas stoves.” I like how the AI made the conspiracy theorist into the subject of his conspiracies. Very Jungian.

5.         “Defund ATF rules such as the ‘pistol brace’ ban and unconstitutional expansion of background checks.”  Unconstitutional according to whom?  Not the Supreme Court.  Meanwhile, the pistol brace regulations are probably illegal for administrative law reasons, so defunding them is a meaningless symbol, like most of this list.

6.         “Defund gender transition surgeries or ‘gender affirming care’ paid by taxpayer dollars.”   I guess you might’ve seen this coming.  Medicare and Medicaid do cover gender affirming care – they’re required to by non-discrimination laws, in fact.  So this policy would be illegal, as well as transphobic, anti-science, theocratic, and harmful to thousands of people who are just trying to live their lives.

7.         “Block Biden’s attempts to dismantle… or damage existing border wall.”  In fact, Biden is expanding the wall.

8.         “Defund Biden’s radical ‘Green New Deal’ climate change actions [examples omitted].”  Actually, none of the actions listed are part of the Green New Deal, which, by the way, enjoys massive public support.

9.         Prohibit funding for DEI and the “bureaucratic offices responsible for promoting DEI and ‘Critical Race Theory’ training and policies.” Well, sure.

10.       “Defund Dr. Anthony Fauci’s ‘gain of function’ research.” Whatever research may have happened five years ago is long since over. This is just pure conspiracy mongering. But it shouldn’t be dismissed either: it reflects the Right’s desperate desire to blame a Bad Guy for Covid.  But wait, isn’t everything in the hands of God?  Which is why you shouldn’t wear a mask or get a shot? As nutty as it may be, liberals who think Covid politics is dead should think again.  Right-wing media is obsessed with it.  Democrats should beware.