The House Freedom Caucus was founded in 2015. Self-styled fiscal conservatives promoted themselves as a bulwark against establishment spending that would bankrupt the nation.
It turns out that many are better at breaking their promises than stopping spending.
In these hyper-partisan times, we discovered 22 of the 49 Freedom Caucus members standing shoulder-to-shoulder with The Squad, whose earmarking we reported last week.
Even House Speaker Mike Johnson, erstwhile Freedom Caucus member, earmarked $60 million last year and $7 million in 2024.
House Freedom Caucus members captured $957 million for their own districts using 210 earmarks scattered throughout the omnibus bills in 2023 and 2024.
In 2024, the individual hauls for the 22 Freedom Caucus members dwarf those of the Squad. These "Freedom fighters" earmarked an average of $23.1 million each for a grand total of $508.9 million.
FREEDOM CAUCUS LEADERSHIP. In January 2022, the Caucus laid out four principles for "Restoring the people's voice in Congress." The fourth principle was to "Institute a ban on earmarks." Laudable!
Included in our numbers are former members of the Caucus and earmarkers Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who earmarked $9.4 million, and Rep. Randy Weber, whose haul was an incredible $432 million since 2023.
The 22 Caucus members earmarked a stunning $510 million in the 2024 bills.
Certain members of the Freedom Caucus argue that the federal bureaucracy is dysfunctional, so they need to hand-pick hundreds of millions of dollars into worthy earmark projects - located in their own districts.
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