What the HFC Won

The Republican House members had a lot of difficulty electing Kevin McCarthy as the Speaker of the House last week, finally getting him the necessary 218 votes to secure a majority and win the gavel after fifteen ballots.

McCarthy needed 218 votes to gain a majority of the House members in order to be elected, but there are only 221 GOP members and twenty of the conservative members refused to vote for McCarthy, so McCarthy had to cut some deals in order to get their votes.

The conservatives, members of what's known as the House Freedom Caucus (HFC), refused to add their votes to McCarthy's total until they were able to wrangle from him guarantees that he would initiate a number of reforms in the House rules and procedures that conservatives have pressed for for years, but which the Democrat Congress under Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to give them.

Finally, after four days of voting, the HFC got assurances for most of what they wanted and what this cadre of conservatives won will make the House of Representatives a much more functional body. And despite their mockery of the Republicans' days-long inability to elect a Speaker, many Democrats and much of the liberal media know that the House will be a better institution for the concessions the HFC won.

Emily Jashinsky at The Federalist provides us with an outline of what the HFC reforms will entail:

• As has been reported, it will only take a single congressperson, acting in what is known as a Jeffersonian Motion, to move to remove the speaker if he or she goes back on their word or policy agenda.
• A ... committee will be convened to look into the weaponization of the FBI and other government organizations (presumably the CIA) against the American people.
• Term limits will be put up for a vote.
• Bills presented to Congress will be single subject, not omnibus with all the attendant earmarks, and there will be a 72-hour minimum period to read them.
• The Texas Border Plan will be put before Congress. From [the website] The Hill: ‘The four-pronged plan aims to ‘Complete Physical Border Infrastructure,’ ‘Fix Border Enforcement Policies,’ ‘Enforce our Laws in the Interior’ and ‘Target Cartels & Criminal Organizations.’’
• COVID mandates will be ended, as will all funding for them, including so-called emergency funding.
• Budget bills would stop the endless increases in the debt ceiling and hold the Senate accountable for the same.

These are good initial steps toward making Congress a body that serves the interests of the American people rather than a body that serves the interests of its members, and we should thank the Freedom Caucus for their resolve in not bending to the pressure they were put under by the media, and indeed their fellow Republicans, until they won this agreement.