The newly minted chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Andy Harris joins “The Signal Sitdown” this week to discuss the conservative cohort’s priorities heading into the elections and the 119th Congress.
The House Freedom Caucus is no stranger to putting pressure on House GOP leadership. The concessions secured by the caucus and other conservatives at the beginning of the 118th Congress ultimately led to then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s undoing. At times, McCarthy’s successor, House Speaker Mike Johnson, has also been challenged from his rightward flank.
Nevertheless, as Harris, R-Md., looks to the next Congress, the new Freedom Caucus chairman claims his relationship with Johnson is based on mutual trust. “If Speaker Johnson looks me in the eye and says something, I expect him to follow through on it. And if he looks at me in the eye, and I say something, I’ve got to follow through on it, because I just think that’s the way it works best, in terms of advancing what we need to do,” Harris said.
“I think that we have the ability to get a lot of wins,” Harris added, “but I’m going to find wins a little differently.” That might serve to Harris’ benefit, given that his predecessor as chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., lost his primary on June 18.
Harris thinks the House Freedom Caucus needs a renewed sense of unity. “We can have diversity of thought, but when we come to a position, we have to have unity of action,” he told me. “We have to be willing to say, ‘Look, we’re a band of brothers and sisters. When we decide we’re going to go to battle on an issue, we have to go to battle together.’”
“We need to reinstill that, because that’s what made us so successful in the beginning,” the Maryland Republican lawmaker added.
If Harris has his way, Republicans will sweep the Nov. 5 elections. When I asked Harris what piece of legislation would he like former President Donald Trump, if reelected, to sign on Day One of his second term, on Jan. 20, 2025, Harris unhesitatingly replied: “HR 2,” a House bill that aims to secure the southern border.
“We have to close the border,” he said. “We do need the SAVE Act before the next election. There’s no question about it. We have to ensure the integrity of American elections, and we will need the SAVE Act, but we can wait a little while to get that done. Look, the bus left the station for this election. Sorry it did. I wish it didn’t. But we need HR 2 badly.”
