Members of the House Freedom Caucus didn’t just stumble onto their opposition of their party’s domestic policy megabill recently. On the contrary, these GOP members have been demanding that the inaptly named One Big Beautiful Bill Act move even further to the right for months.

After Senate Republicans made some significant changes to the House GOP’s version, House Freedom Caucus grew even more incensed — and raised the volume on their opposition.

As recently as Wednesday afternoon, the day before the final vote, the right-wing faction even circulated a three-page memo, documenting specific elements of the Senate-backed legislation that the caucus found offensive. Politico reported soon after:

Rep. Andy Harris, chair of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, said he was opposed to the Senate-passed version of the GOP megabill and called on Trump to order senators back to town for further negotiations. … Harris told reporters he did not expect the votes on the rule to succeed until it’s brought back closer to the House version.

The Freedom Caucus chair added, “There’s a little work left to be done, but if the president calls the Senate back in town, we should be able to do it.”

Donald Trump did not call the Senate back. Hours later, Harris, along with every other member of the right-wing contingent, did as they were told and voted in favor of the procedural measure needed to advance the reconciliation package.

And when it came time for final passage, the total number of Freedom Caucus members who opposed the bill they denounced was zero.

But as striking as it was to see the Freedom Caucus fall in line, just as important was the familiarity of the circumstances.

• In January, House Freedom Caucus members said they were prepared to derail Johnson’s bid for a second term with the gavel, and then they caved.
• In March, House Freedom Caucus members said they were opposed to a stopgap spending measure (known as a continuing resolution, or CR) needed to prevent a shutdown, and then they caved.
• In April, House Freedom Caucus members slammed their party’s budget resolution, and then caved.
• In May, House Freedom Caucus members railed against their party’s reconciliation package, and then they caved.
• And in July, House Freedom Caucus members condemned the Senate’s version of the GOP megabill, and then caved.

As a recent Washington Post analysis summarized:

Recommended

Maddowblog

House Freedom Caucus’ future turns bleak as Chip Roy eyes Texas’ AG race

Steve Benen

Maddowblog

Members of the House Freedom Caucus evolve into lapdogs in the Trump era

Steve Benen

Each threat from leaders of the House Freedom Caucus ended with the same result: capitulation. After caving on each round of threats, these far-right conservatives vowed that the next time would be different — if their demands were not met precisely as they sought. This collection of several dozen Republicans, after a decade of rabble-rousing that helped push aside three other speakers, has yet to fully buck Johnson … on any major initiative this year.

That was published in early April. Three months later, it’s still accurate.

In recent years, the Freedom Caucus managed to earn a reputation as unrelenting hard-liners who rejected compromises, were indifferent to party leaders’ pleas, and who had no qualms about derailing GOP proposals they deemed insufficiently conservative. They quickly became a painful thorn in the side of several House Republican speakers.

As a recent NBC News report explained, “They didn’t fear government shutdowns; they welcomed them. Their signature move was to collectively withhold votes unless House GOP leaders met their demands. Before this year, most members of the conservative crew had never supported a stopgap spending bill or debt ceiling increase in their entire House careers.”

That, however, was before Trump became president and started telling them to roll over. In 2025, the attack dogs have become obedient lapdogs, whose barks are worse than their bites.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.