Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Tea Party, the Freedom Caucus, and the Obama Administration

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Battle for U.S. Foreign Policy

Abstract

This chapter applies our factional model of minority influence to two original case studies of Tea Party and Freedom Caucus activism in solvency debates during the Obama administration (2010–2017). First, it examines Tea Party strategies in opposition to comprehensive immigration reform, including negative issue framing and resistance. Second, it analyzes the activism of conservatives in the Freedom Caucus (a more contemporary extension of the Tea Party) in delaying and challenging the Obama administration’s funding of trade credit agencies like the Export-Import Bank through legislative and nontraditional means.

I think the master plan of the ruling class that runs Washington, DC, is to ram this [immigration reform] bill through before the American people know what has hit them.

—Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) (qtd. in Greenley 2013)

[Republicans] are bending to the hard right. [The Export-Import Bank] is the one thing that unites business and labor, unites Democrats…and independents, and they are bending to the will of a small but very, very determined few.

—Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) (2015)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The objective would be to provide some protections for up to 1.5 million young undocumented individuals who had been brought to the United States by their families as children (under the age of 16). DACA would grant them deferred status for immigration enforcement, along with work authorizations, and other benefits.

  2. 2.

    The House Freedom Caucus does not disclose the names of its members. The number comes from the Pew Research Center’s work to confirm factional affiliations (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/10/20/house-freedom-caucus-what-is-it-and-whos-in-it/). Other accounts estimate membership at 40.

  3. 3.

    All data for ideological measurements comes from Poole and Rosenthal (www.voteview.com).

Bibliography

  • Alcindor, Y., & Stolberg, S. G. (2017, September 5). After 16 Futile Years, Congress Will Try Again to Legalize ‘Dreamers.’ The New York Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bash, D., et al. (2014, August 1). House GOP Passes Border Bill – Likely to No Effect. CNN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berman, R. (2013, July 3). No Pressure on House Republicans to Tackle Immigration Reform. The Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berman, R. (2014, December 1). How Will Republicans Rebuke Obama on Immigration. The Atlantic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bump, P. (2014, February 7). Republicans Take Their Tea Party Frame to the Logical Conclusion: Fight King Obama I. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/02/republicans-take-their-tea-party-frame-logical-conclusion-fight-king-obama-i/358175/

  • Calmes, J. (2015a, June 18). Export-Import Bank Divides Once-Supportive Republicans. The New York Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calmes, J. (2015b, June 30). Its Charter Expired, Export-Import Bank Will Keep the Doors Open. The New York Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cillizza, C. (2015, December 8). How to Negotiate, According to the House Freedom Caucus. The Washington Post.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cirilli, K. (2015a, July 7). Ex-Im Opponents Adopt New Tactic in Battle Over Bank. The Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cirilli, K. (2015b, October 22). Export Import Brawl Enters Upper Chamber. The Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cirilli, K. (2015c, April 14). Governors Rally Behind Ex-Im. The Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cirilli, K., & Wong, S. (2015, July 9). Conservatives Prepare for Showdown on Ex-Im Bank. The Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Confessore, N. (2015, March 23). Koch-Backed Group Bolsters Effort to Shut Down Export-Import Bank. The New York Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa, R. (2013, April 15). A Gang of Six Plots a Revolt. National Review.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa, R. (2014a, March 8). As CPAC Ends, Republican Factions Remain Adamant in Disagreements. The Washington Post.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa, R. (2014b, August 1). Senate Cracks Conservative Whip to Stop the Speaker. The Washington Post.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox, D. (2014, June 12). On Immigration, the Tea Party Remains an Important Outlier. The Huffington Post.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeBonis, M. (2015a, July 28). GOP Congressman Launches Bid to Oust John Boehner as House Speaker. The Washington Post.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeBonis, M. (2015b, December 2). House Freedom Caucus Looking to Flex Its New Muscle in 2016 Races. The Washington Post.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeBonis, M., Costa, R., & Helderman, R. S. (2015, October 8). House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy Drops Out of Race for House Speaker. Washington Post.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeSilver, D. (2015, October 20). House Freedom Caucus: What Is It, and Who’s in It? Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/10/20/house-freedom-caucus-what-is-it-and-whos-in-it/

  • Drezner, D. W. (2014a). Rebooting Republican Foreign Policy. Foreign Affairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drezner, D. W. (2014b, October 15). Two Thoughts on the GOP’s Brewing Civil War on Foreign Policy. The Washington Post.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dumain, E. (2013, June 6). GOP Backs Amendment to Deport DREAMers. Roll Call.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrenfreund, M. (2016, February 3). What’s Incredible About Republicans’ Views on Immigration Is How Much They’ve Changed. The Washington Post.

    Google Scholar 

  • Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm. Journal of Communication, 4, 51–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, L., & Newhauser, D. (2015, July 29). John Boehner’s Not Giving Mark Meadows the Chance to Oust Him. National Journal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gold, M., & Hamburger, T. (2015, March 29). Export-Import Dividing GOP. The Washington Post.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, M. N. (2019). Legislative Hardball: The House Freedom Caucus and the Power of Threat-Making in Congress (Elements in American Politics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Greenley, L. (2013, June 14). Rep. Bachmann: Don’t Count on House to Stop Amnest. The Jackson Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ho, C., & Snell, K. (2015, October 9). Export-Import Bank Supporters Move to Force House Vote. The Washington Post.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hudson, J. (2010, December 1). The Conservative Case Against the DREAM Act. The Atlantic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hulse, C. (2015, October 9). Bipartisan Coalition Forces New Vote on Ex-Im Bank. The New York Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, A. (2015, July 6). U.S. Import Bank Teetering on Edge. The New York Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, S. M. (2013, June 27). Senate Passes Immigration Bill. Politico.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kucinich, D., & Jordan, J. (2015, July 12). Pull the Plug on the Ex-Im Bank: Opposing View. USA Today.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lantis, J. S. (2019). Foreign Policy Advocacy and Entrepreneurship: How a New Generation in Congress Is Shaping U.S. Engagement with the World. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, T. B. (2015a, October 9). The House Freedom Caucus, Explained. Vox. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2015/10/9/9488835/house-freedom-caucus-explained

  • Lee, F. E. (2015b). How Party Polarization Affects Governance. Annual Review of Political Science, 18(1), 261–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marcos, C. (2015, October 28). In Surprise, Most House GOP members Back Ex-Im. The Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, S. F. (2011). A Nation of Immigrants. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, S. F. (2013, April). Immigration Reform: A System for the 21st Century. Rice University Baker Institute Paper. Retrieved from http://www.bakerinstitute.org/files/684/

  • Mead, W. R. (2011). The Tea Party and American Foreign Policy: What Populism Means for Globalism. Foreign Affairs, 90(2), 28–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, Z. J. (2013, July 27). GOP Goes Public with Long-Brewing Foreign Policy Civil War. Time.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moscovici, S. (1976). Social Influence and Social Change. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Needham, V. (2015, September 15). Business Push Back to Renew Ex-Im. The Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Needham, N., & Carney, J. (2015, October 29). Ex-Im Fight Shifts to McConnell. The Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nocera, J. (2015, July 31). Revenge of the Ideologues: Killing the Export-Import Bank. The New York Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orrenius, P. M., & Zavodny, M. (2010). Beside the Golden Door: U.S. Immigration Reform in a New Era of Globalization. Washington, DC: AEI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker, C. S., & Barreto, M. A. (2014). Change They Can’t Believe In: The Tea Party and Reactionary Politics in America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • PRRI/Brookings. (2014, June 10). What Americans Want from Immigration Reform in 2014. Policy Brief. https://www.brookings.edu/research/what-americans-want-from-immigration-reform-in-2014/

  • Quinn, M. (2015, April 29). Conservative House Freedom Caucus Comes Out Against Export-Import Bank. Daily Signal (PDF file). Retrieved from https://www.dailysignal.com/2015/04/29/conservative-house-freedom-caucus-comes-out-against-export-import-bank/

  • Rathbun, B. (2013). Steeped in International Affairs? The Foreign Policy Views of the Tea Party. Foreign Policy Analysis, 9(1), 21–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, H. C. (2014). To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenblum, M. (2011, August). Immigration Policy Since 9/11: Understanding the Stalemate Over Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Migration Policy Institute Study. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (PDF file). Retrieved from www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/RMSG-post-9-11policy.pdf

  • Schroeder, P. (2015, July 25). Republicans Make Peace After Days of High Drama. The Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shahab, R., & Marcos, C. (2015, January 14). House Passes Bill to Defund Obama’s Immigration Orders. The Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sink, J. (2014, November 20). Obama to Congress: ‘Pass a Bill.’ The Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinhauer, J. (2012, November 8). Speaker ‘Confident’ of Deal with White House on Immigration. The New York Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tichenor, D. J. (2002). Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Warmbrodt, Z. (2017, December 19). GOP Defectors Block Trump Nominee to Head Ex-Im Bank. Politico.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiner, R. (2013, 20 January). How Immigration Reform Failed, Over and Over. Washington Post.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weisman, J. (2015, March 9). Tea Party Divided by Export-Import Bank. The New York Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, V., Skocpol, T., & Coggin, J. (2011). The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism. Perspectives on Politics, 9(1), 25–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wong, S., & Cirilli, K. (2015, July 7). Ex-Im Vote Holds Peril for No.2 House Republican McCarthy. Southcarolinaliberty.com.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Dominican University, River Forest, IL, USA

    Patrick Homan

  2. Department of Political Science, The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH, USA

    Jeffrey S. Lantis

Authors
  1. Patrick Homan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jeffrey S. Lantis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrick Homan .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Homan, P., Lantis, J.S. (2020). The Tea Party, the Freedom Caucus, and the Obama Administration. In: The Battle for U.S. Foreign Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30171-2_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation