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Brecheen plans to join House Freedom Caucus

TULSA, Okla. — Eastern Oklahoma’s new Congressman will join the U.S. House’s farthest right caucus The House Freedom Caucus, the Representative-elect’s staff tells FOX23 News.

Rep.-elect Josh Brecheen (R-Okla. 2) has found himself in the national spotlight just two days into his first term as a Congressman after he joined with 19 others to oppose Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)’s rise to become the next Speaker of the House of Representatives, the third most powerful post in American government.

Brecheen has been seen on cameras in the House chamber sitting with members like conservative firebrands Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) as they oppose McCarthy’s bid to be speaker. Gaetz and Boebert and the other members opposed to McCarthy are members of the House Freedom Caucus. A group of far-right lawmakers in the U.S. House formed in January 2015 after the TEA Party wave flipped the House in the middle of the Obama Administration.

Since its founding, it is seen as an alternative to the more establishment group the Republican Study Committee which was formed during the Nixon Presidency when Republicans felt Nixon was becoming a moderate in his governance and abandoning the conservative principles he ran on. Tulsa-area Congressman Kevin Hern (R) is the new chairman of the Republican Study Committee, and has been supporting McCarthy for speaker at the time of this writing.

It was noted on the floor of the House Wednesday by Freedom Caucus members that you can be a good conservative without joining the Freedom Caucus.

In recent years, the Freedom Caucus has taken on more than just fiscal policies but also social conservative issues and has tied itself directly to all policies championed by Former President Donald Trump while and after he’s held office.

But the vote over McCarthy being speaker has splintered the caucus at least on this one issue. Trump announced his support for McCarthy this week to be speaker and said Republicans were blowing their new majority with infighting. Also, not all members of the Freedom Caucus are opposed to McCarthy being speaker.

FOX23 asked Brecheen’s staff if Brecheen had officially joined the Freedom Caucus yet, and FOX23 was told he will in the future. The problem is without a speaker selected to lead The House, no one can take their oath of office yet, and so Brecheen remains Congressman-elect while the House tries to find its new speaker.

FOX23 is told after he takes the oath of office Brecheen will align himself and join the House Freedom Caucus. This will be the first time since its formation that an Oklahoman has openly claimed membership in the far-right caucus that has been at the center of conservative policy debates and the main defenders of Trump on the national stage from the House of Representatives side of the Capitol.

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