The “hell no” caucus may need a new nickname.

The faction of conservatives known for reflexive opposition to Speaker John Boehner’s agenda has given up — for now — its bomb-throwing tactics. Instead, as the House heads for a high-stakes vote on a fiscal 2016 budget blueprint, the group is working with leadership to get a deal done.


It’s a dramatic tactical shift for the conservative bloc, and the new House Freedom Caucus is a big reason for the change. With nearly three dozen members, the invitation-only group offers conservatives a single voice to speak with publicly, and to conduct negotiations with in private.

In fact, Boehner’s unusual gambit to bring multiple budgets to the House floor was the product of negotiations with the group of House firebrands. Having a hand in how the chamber considers the budget seems to have gone a long way toward winning enough votes to ultimately pass the spending blueprint on the floor.

“We’re not the caucus of no. We’re a group trying to get to yes,” said Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.). “We believe we have a very different guiding set of principles on balancing the budget and getting back to regular order. Doing things the right way are extremely important to us.”

The group also seems to have learned from recent defeats.

The new caucus gathered immediately after the House passed a nine-month extension for Department of Homeland Security funding last month, when conservatives effectively won no concessions from Democrats, Boehner’s team or the White House. Attention quickly turned to the budget. At a closed-door meeting in the Cannon House Office Building, members hashed out plans to work with Budget Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.) to bring some of the most hard-line House members on board with the GOP’s plans.

Unlike previous fiscal showdowns, this time it worked.

For the first time in nearly two years, it wasn’t hard-core fiscal conservatives causing headaches for GOP leadership when Price unveiled his budget. Instead, it was defense hawks who wanted to see multibillion-dollar spending increases for the military.

Lawmakers in the Freedom Caucus said the positive reception was no accident. Led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), conservatives had more than half a dozen conversations with Price, budget committee staffers and within their own caucus to bring their members to a “yes.”

The conversations were informal and continued throughout last weekend. That’s when members of the Freedom Caucus offered their plan to let lawmakers vote on a range of budgets — a strategy that Boehner’s team ultimately adopted this week.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) said he is undecided about supporting a GOP budget with increased defense spending, but said the so-called Queen of the Hill process — in which the budget with the most votes is adopted — brought many conservatives on board.

“I like that idea. Whatever one gets the most votes, let that prevail. It works,” Harris said.

A spokesperson for the Budget Committee said outreach to the Freedom Caucus was part of a larger strategy to “educate” Republicans.

“Since the very start of the Congress, on both the member and staff level, the chairman has had discussions with every group within the Conference — including meetings and conference calls with other committees, and caucuses like the House Freedom Caucus, RSC and the Tuesday Group,” the spokesperson said. “This has been a collaborative process from the very beginning and Chairman Price appreciates the strong working relationship he has had with the members, different caucuses, chairmen and leadership on this effort.”

Still, critics of the conservative members may have a hard time believing the group has turned over a new leaf. It remains to be seen if the group can support leadership when spending bills move this fall, some of which will need to include concessions to the White House and Senate Democrats to be enacted.

The House will vote Wednesday on six budgets — three of which were introduced by Republicans. There will be broad support among Freedom Caucus members for the conservative Republican Study Committee budget and most members will back the original budget introduced by Price last week.

The third GOP budget, written and supported by Boehner and his leadership team, increases defense spending by an additional $20 billion — a hard pill for deficit hawks to swallow. Still, the measure is expected to win enough from leaders of the conservative caucus to pass.

A senior staffer familiar with the negotiations said that demonstrates the new caucus can help make deals. Members of the group are not selected because of their rigid opposition to Boehner. Instead, the group is looking for lawmakers who want to work within the House’s regular processes.

“This shows that conservatives are ready and willing to work with leadership to advance conservative principles and consider legislation in an open and transparent manner,” said the senior staffer familiar with the negotiations.

Somewhat ironically, House Republicans may have a relatively easy time approving their budget. Winning approval for the same measure could be harder across the rotunda. Senate GOP leadership has a narrow margin for error as it tries to corral at least 51 votes to pass its budget resolution later this week.

Despite some trepidation from fiscal hawks, the Senate Budget Committee agreed to boost defense spending by $38 billion, using the Overseas Contingency Operations account. But procedural fine print in the Senate budget means the bid for extra defense cash will face significant hurdles before the Pentagon can actually get that money.

Still, that increase in OCO money was enough to get support from defense hawks such as Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.). And fiscal hard-liners in the Senate weren’t yet ready to declare their position one way or the other on the budget.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) was noncommittal when approached Tuesday.

“We’re looking closely at it,” he said. “There’s still a lot to review.”

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), another fiscal conservative, said he was coming up with his own list of amendments for the fiscal blueprint — noting that the overuse of the contingency war account has “been a problem” while adding that he was still reviewing the budget.