FreedomWorks President Adam Brandon told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on Monday that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), if he becomes the next speaker of the House, will play a “huge part” in draining the swamp.
FreedomWorks, a prominent conservative grassroots group, backed Congressman Jordan in April, a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, for speaker to replace the outgoing Speaker Paul Ryan.
Brandon said in April, “If Republicans in Congress really want to see the swamp drained, Rep. Jordan is the guy that’s going to work with President Trump to get it done.”
In May, more than 40 prominent conservative leaders sent an open letter to Congressman Jordan, urging the member to declare himself a speaker “at once” to replace Ryan. Jordan told Breitbart News in an interview in late June that he confirmed he will be a “part of that discussion” in the speaker race.
Brandon told Breitbart News that a potential Jordan speakership would help drain the swamp, contending that Speaker Jordan would control the legislative process to push bills that better fulfill President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.
“Conservatives have been very good historically at politics and policy, but where we suck at is process,” the FreedomWorks executive explained. “The process is owned by the swamp. I see that Jim Jordan is going to be a huge part of that.”
The conservative leader noted that Jordan, as speaker, would help return to regular order, which would avoid passing spending bills such as the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill signed by Trump in March and pass the rest of Trump’s legislative agenda, such as repealing Obamacare and reforming welfare.
Brandon told Breitbart News, “Jordan will make it very clear that another omnibus bill is not happening. I hate to say it because this crazy plan we have for Jim Jordan is to just return to regular order. I think it’s interesting for Jordan is that he’s going to have a lot of members say that he is way too conservative. They may not agree with him but he wants to go back to that regular order.”
The original Obamacare repeal proposal led by the House Republican leadership, known as the American Health Care Act (AHCA), was lambasted by conservatives and populists for not doing enough to repeal Obamacare. Other Republicans complained about Republican leadership bucking the regular order, instead, drafting the bill in secret. Conservatives labeled the bill “RyanCare” and “Obamacare-Lite.” Conservative and moderate Republicans complained that the rank-and-file members had little input in the drafting of the bill, which led to the original AHCA’s defeat in the House last year. A revised AHCA only passed after then-Tuesday Group co-chairman Tom MacArthur (R-NJ) and House Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows (R-NJ) negotiated a more conservative Obamacare repeal bill.
Brandon then said that Jordan would put all Obamacare repeal and other high priority legislative items “front and center.” He added that under Speaker Jordan, Republicans would make “tremendous progress” repealing Obamacare.
FreedomWorks President Brandon said that if Jordan would serve as speaker, he would make Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “the most successful majority leader in history.”
Brandon explained, “If Jim Jordan becomes speaker, he will make Mitch McConnell the most successful majority leader in history. Jordan would save him. Why would he save him? Because he would send over really good pieces of legislation, and when it gets to the Senate, it gets closer to the center, and you still get a pretty good bill. This is what I never understood about Boehner’s leadership. They’re starting on the 50-yard line; my understanding of football is that you start on your side and push them way back.”
Brandon noted in April that Jordan had unanimous support from the FreedomWorks Activist Advisory Council. The FreedomWorks president explained why the conservative grassroots so eagerly backed Jordan for speaker. “We pitched that we want to get involved in the speaker’s race behind Jim Jordan. I think that was unanimous and tested with our entire membership, and I joked it was almost like a Soviet Union-style thing. It was 95 on our list supported Jim Jordan. I thought it was going to be 75 percent. It goes back to what they know about Jordan; they know that he started the Freedom Caucus. The Freedom Caucus has been their great salvation in Washington for the last few years. That’s the one group that has held out against the swamp for the last few years. The guy who founded it, that’s obviously someone who they’re going to support.”
“Your currency in politics these days is authenticity,” Brandon added.
Brandon concluded, “Jordan and the Freedom Caucus have never let these folks down. Even if they disagree with them, they never let them down. They vote exactly the way they said they would. That just goes a long, long way.”
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