Freedom Caucus chair: Government shutdown isn't likely

The conservative House Freedom Caucus has so much leverage with the Trump administration that it won't likely force a government shutdown over disagreements to a proposed spending bill, the Freedom Caucus chairman said on Thursday.

During a POLITICO Live panel discussion with Playbook, co-authors Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer, Caucus Chairman Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who helped orchestrate the last government shutdown, said the Caucus has "six or seven" leverage points with the Trump administration to get what they wanted attached to a spending bill.


"The reason why I don't believe that there will be a shutdown is because of the other leverage points," said Meadows, who sat alongside Freedom Caucus members Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Justin Amash (R-Mich.). " … In any Congress, you have only two or three leverage points on must-pass pieces of legislation. This year, we've got six or seven different leverage points, and so those leverage points provide another opportunity."

Those leverage points, Jordan said earlier during the panel, included repealing and replacing Obamacare, overhauling the U.S. tax code and securing funding for the border wall, all of which President Donald Trump repeatedly promised during his presidential campaign.

"I think those other leverage points allows the shutdown talk to be minimized in a couple of weeks because there are other things that are following right behind," Meadows said.

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House Freedom Caucus members, whose vocal opposition to the Trump administration's Obamacare replacement bill was partially responsible for the bill's failure, have been weighing whether to continue the group's no-compromise reputation as the deadline to pass a government spending bill nears.

Jordan, who is a founding member of the caucus, would not say what issues were worth shutting down the government to the Freedom Caucus.

"We don’t want to shut down, but we say this all the time — we should fight for what we promised the American people," he said. "Maybe it's funding for the border that's in that bill that we pushed for. I know what the Senate has said about that, particularly Mr. Schumer. But we need to deliver on the promises we told the American people."

Meadows said he expected the funding bill to easily pass in the House.

"What I think you will see is funding for the wall, I think you will see funding in there for better enforcement of sanctuary cities, and I think you will see a plus up on military," he said about the planned government funding bill."

"I think most people will vote for that," he added.