House Conservatives Form "Freedom Caucus" as Right-Wing Rebellion Continues
By Beth Ethier
A cluster of far-right Republicans in the House of Representatives announced on Monday the formation of the Freedom Caucus, a group intended to combat a perceived centrist drift in the House's long-time home of conservative thought, the Republican Study Committee.
The RSC, formed in 1973 as a conservative watchdog to keep the Republican Party from becoming too moderate, has grown to 170 members, encompassing a large part of the GOP caucus. In recent years, hard-right members have complained that House leadership has seized control of the group and compromised its conservative principles.
In 2013, the RSC's Executive Director, Paul Teller, was fired by then-chair Steve Scalise, and Teller's supporters claimed that he was pushed out because he upset John Boehner by opposing the budget deal brokered by Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray. Around the same time, the RSC barred members of the conservative Heritage Foundation, including former Sen. Jim DeMint, from attending the committee's meetings after Heritage's role in the failure of Republicans to pass a Farm Bill that year.
Writing on the formation of the new Freedom Caucus, the Heritage Foundation's Daily Signal news service says:
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