The ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus has added two new members amid an ongoing revolt against House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Politico reports.
Reps. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) and Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) have joined the right-wing bloc that effectively shut down the House floor last week, prompting McCarthy to send lawmakers home early.
Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), also a Freedom Caucus member, attributed the voting bloc’s newest additions to the pushback against McCarthy.
“A couple of those individuals wanted to join the Freedom Caucus at a time when the Freedom Caucus is staking out a clear commitment to doing what the American people elected the Republican majority to do,” Good told Politico, which notes that he praised the 29 House Republicans who opposed a procedural debt ceiling vote as being “willing to take political risks, personal risks, professional risks to do what they believe is right.”
But a source close to Harshbarger’s office told the outlet that her decision to join the Freedom Caucus was not related to the debt limit debate, noting the congresswoman’s “undeniable conservative credentials.”
Burlison on Tuesday told Politico that the Freedom Caucus’ “intensity of intellectual discourse” was among the reasons he decided to join.
The Freedom Caucus’ membership isn’t publicly listed but is estimated to be around three dozen House members.
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