Exclusive: New House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., wants to focus on two key issues for the rest of this year – Government financing and the rules for next year’s House GOP conference.
“I’ve actually been in the Freedom Caucus from the very beginning,” Harris told Fox News Digital on Tuesday night, her first interview since being elected chair of the ultra-conservative group.
“I’ve seen, you know, all of our presidents do a great job in pushing a conservative agenda with Congress and the American people. And our big fight right now is going to be on controlling spending. It’s going to be on what the rules are for the next Congress.”
“I’m going to roll up my sleeves and fight on these two issues,” Harris promised.
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Rep. Andy Harris has been elected the next chair of the House Freedom Caucus (Getty Images)
The Maryland Republican, first elected in 2010, was chosen to lead the Freedom Caucus for the remainder of the year after Rep. Bob Good vacated the position after losing to another Republican in the June primary.
Harris is not known for being especially talkative with reporters on Capitol Hill, making her an acceptable successor for a group that has also kept its membership list secret.
The Freedom Caucus has long been seen as a thorn in the side of House GOP leaders, pushing them to push conservative policies through Congress.
However, Harris praised Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership on government funding ahead of a vote on Wednesday on a Freedom Caucus-backed plan to avoid a government shutdown.
The plan includes a six-month extension of this year’s federal funds, known as a continuing resolution (CR), to give lawmakers more time to consider fiscal year 2025 priorities, as well as a measure to require proof of citizenship in the voter registration process.
Representative Bob Good recently resigned as Speaker (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“The leadership he’s shown on this issue has been outstanding,” Harris said. “I think if we had discussed this a month ago and someone had suggested that Speaker Johnson was going to bring a six-month CR to the floor, and, oh, by the way, we’ll add the (Protecting American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act) to it — most people would not have believed it.”
But the Democrat-controlled Senate and White House The law is called A nonstarter.
Harris did not say how conservatives might force Johnson to stick to the plan, even though many Republicans have publicly opposed the measure because they worry the speaker won’t fight for it if the SAVE Act is rejected by the Senate.
“If it fails, we’ll cross that bridge at that time,” he said.
However, Harris urged Republican Party critics to reconsider the bill before Wednesday’s vote.
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“I hope they reconsider it before tomorrow and realize that it sends an important message to the American people,” Harris said. “I would love to hear the argument that Chuck Schumer makes in which he says, ‘Yeah, you know, we’re going to reject it because we want illegal aliens to vote.’”
The Maryland Republican also did not elaborate on what changes he would like to see in House GOP conference rules — though the issue is expected to play a central role in leadership elections later in the year.
Harris praises Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership in fight for government funding (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., agreed to change some conference rules to win over his critics after House Republicans regained a majority in the 2022 midterm elections.
This notably included lowering the voting threshold for removing the Speaker from office – which was Motion to vacate The election for the chair has come down from a simple majority to just one vote.
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“I’m hopeful that next year the Republican majority will, in their wisdom — because I believe there will be a Republican majority — will adopt and support not only all of the changes that we’ve made this term, but perhaps some more changes. Those will be discussed more explicitly in the next couple of months.”
When asked for details, Harris said that besides him there were other members in the group.
“It will depend on what the Freedom Caucus says,” Harris said. “I’m the chair, but I’m not all of the members.”
