Spending bill vote shows limits of political brinksmanship for House Freedom Caucus members [View all]

WASHINGTON – When Republicans took control of the House last year with almost the thinnest of majorities, all eyes turned to the House Freedom Caucus. The loose group of 30-some ultraconservative lawmakers outnumbered the narrow vote margin for Republicans and, as a result, were granted new outsized leverage over leadership to cater to their whims.

From the start, it appeared the Freedom Caucus and its like-minded colleagues were going to call the shots, and at times, they did. But after the House passed a massive $1.2 trillion spending package on Friday, those rebels were dealt a decisive defeat with no clear strategy to pressure leadership to cave to their demands.

Even a surprise proposal from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to oust Johnson introduced Friday was met with refusal from some of her peers, indicating there’s not much appetite for further chaos from the right flank of the conference.

And while ultraconservatives are watching their power slip, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has become more decisive and willing to ignore the noise from his right flank. After crowing for months at Johnson to play hardball with Democrats and even leverage a government shutdown to extract hard-right conservative policy victories, their calls ultimately fell on deaf ears when the House green-lighted the package to fund the government long-term and avert a partial shutdown.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/spending-bill-vote-shows-limits-091109679.html

Howler monkey MTG still makes noise and flings feces.