A key bloc of conservatives is laying plans to throttle legislation on the House floor and will meet privately this week to discuss a shake-up of GOP leadership.

The group is irate at what one called a “culture of punishment” that Speaker John Boehner’s leadership team has instituted against dissenting members — most recently the removal of Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) from a subcommittee chairmanship after he bucked Republican leaders on an important procedural vote.


In one of his first interviews since that move, Meadows stopped short of calling for the removal of Boehner or his lieutenants; House conservatives likely lack support to oust Republicans leaders even if they wanted to. But the mere mention of such a move shows that tensions between Boehner’s team and House conservatives, after seeming to subside the past several months, are peaking once again.

Meadows, a founding member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said the group of roughly three dozen conservatives will meet Tuesday to discuss their next move.

“A change of leadership will start to be talked about in more earnest terms,” Meadows told POLITICO during an interview in his Capitol office Monday. “I’m not angry, but I do have a firm resolve that we change [the process] for Americans.”

He added, “It’s not about ideology. It’s about that all members of Congress need to have their voice heard and this is a place for debate. Not a place for punishment. People should not be worried about the type of vote they cast, ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ based on retribution.”

The more credible threat by House conservatives would be to begin voting with Democrats on procedural motions, which would effectively block GOP leaders from advancing favored legislation. In a phone call Sunday evening, members of the Freedom Caucus — led by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan — began discussing voting in such a concerted way. Freedom Caucus members have already voted no on so-called rule votes — Meadows’ decision to do so last week led to the loss of his subcommittee chairmanship — but they’re mulling doing so with more regularity.

Pockets of House conservatives have long voiced frustration with Boehner (R-Ohio) and his leadership of the House Republican Conference, but so far they’ve not organized in a meaningful way. If they decide to oppose the leadership on procedural votes, they could prove to be a major problem for Boehner, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.).

The House Freedom Caucus held another conference call Monday evening and will hold an in-person meeting in Washington on Tuesday, according to sources familiar with the plans.

The deep frustration with leadership was rekindled last week when House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) stripped Meadows of his gavel after he voted against a motion that allowed a vote on a package of trade bills key to President Barack Obama’s second-term agenda. Conservatives said Democrats had too big a role in drafting the bill. Boehner said he was frustrated by the dissent, and Chaffetz said there were a variety of reasons he removed Meadows from the Government Operations subcommittee post.

It would be difficult now for a small group of rank-and-file Republicans to replace Boehner, McCarthy or Scalise. But the procedural threat is also very serious: If 30 Republicans were to vote against a rule or for a motion to recommit, GOP leaders would have a difficult time moving legislation.

“We’re extraordinarily frustrated over the way leadership is running through legislation,” said a lawmaker in the House Freedom Caucus, granted anonymity to discuss internal party issues. “There is no way that Jason Chaffetz did this on his own. The irony here is that this is not about the speaker’s vote until the speaker made it that by retaliating. We are starting to hear more folks talk about it now than we did a few weeks ago just because of the retaliation.”

Meadows, a founding member of the Freedom Caucus, was one of 33 Republicans to vote against the rule earlier this month. He also voted against Boehner for speaker in January and stopped paying dues to the National Republican Congressional Committee, an important measure of party loyalty among GOP leaders.

The high-water mark of conservative angst against Boehner came in January when the Ohio Republican ran for another term as speaker. Two dozen Republicans, including Meadows, voted against Boehner. Many of the dissenters went on to form the Freedom Caucus early this year.

After the speaker vote, Florida Reps. Richard Nugent and Daniel Webster were removed from the House Rules Committee, a panel that is often referred to as the speaker’s committee. Tensions between the conservatives and the GOP leadership team simmered when the House considered funding for the Department of Homeland Security, but there have been few calls to oust Boehner since.

But the trade vote has broadly aggravated conservatives who griped that Boehner has been more interested in working with Democrats than his fellow Republicans. The conservatives asked leadership for three changes to the trade bill but were rebuffed, the hard-liners have said.

Meadows insisted Monday that he isn’t angry with Chaffetz or Republican leadership. But he said the punishments are prompting a discussion about how members are treated when they vote “their conscience.”

“I have no malice in my heart, not for Jason or for any of my colleagues, but this does change things for me. I have taken a number of punishments for my speaker vote very quietly … but I do think it’s time that the American people need to understand there is a culture of punishment here,” Meadows said.