House Republicans joined Democrats last week in shameful Congressional votes that defeated two common-sense amendments in a national display of the Uni-party flexing its muscle.
First, an amendment by Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) to strip Senate-inserted earmarks from the FY2026 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill failed in a lopsided 136–291 vote. While the House version of the bill contained no earmarks, the Senate added roughly $1.3 billion in pet projects including the funding of abortions, gender procedures on children, DEI activism, and other wasteful pork-barrel projects for special interests with 76 House Republicans joining Democrats to save the profligate spending.
The second betrayal came when an amendment to block a federal automobile “kill switch” mandate was also voted down. Fifty-seven Republicans joined 211 Democrats to save invasive policies that would enable in-car surveillance systems that threaten privacy, raise vehicle costs, allow the government to remotely shut down cars, and mirror sweeping European Union surveillance mandates. Even on a ghastly instance of Orwellian overreach such as this, Republicans could not come together and uphold their values of limited government.
The lawmakers who joined Democrats for these betrayals largely come from the Republican Main Street caucus. The Main Streeters are a caucus of over 85 legislators in Congress that is centered on pragmatism and inclusivity. Although they do not publicly admit it is the case because they fear his wrath, the Main Street Caucus operates as a counterbalance to President Trump’s influence on the Republican Party. And although their views may not be popular among the GOP base, they wield their collective power with effectiveness within the Washington D.C. swamp.
The Main Streeters are among the loudest advocates for Obamacare. Three caucus members – Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick and Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania as well as Rep. Mike Lawler from New York – signed onto the Democrat’s discharge petition that forced a vote last year extending the costly subsidies that prop up the failed quasi-socialist health care scam. Shortly after, 17 House Republicans, most of whom were Main Streeters, joined the Democrats to pass a three-year extension on Obamacare’s premium tax credits – kicking the can down the road and keeping the corrupt bureaucratic status quo in healthcare going that much longer.
The Caucus has sought to change the House rules to protect entrenched establishment leadership, tightening up the “motion to vacate” a Speaker from one to nine lawmakers. They also have argued that so-called trouble makers should be removed from committee assignments. The Caucus has been constant advocates of continuing resolutions and bipartisan spending bills, averting imminent shutdown scenarios where actual tough decisions on spending might have to be made. The Main Streeters have doggedly opposed efforts to cut waste in Medicaid and SNAP programs, which are regularly abused by the Democrats’ subclass of dregs, their most reliable voting block which includes illegal immigrants.
Rep. Keith Self of Texas, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, put the entire Republican Party on blast in an X post. He said the line, frequently pushed by spineless Republicans making excuses for lack of action, that “we are doing the best we can” is not going to cut it to voters. Rep. Self wrote: “If we keep this up, pretty soon, the Republicans are going to own every failed Biden-era policy. Republicans… how about instead of doing the “best” you can, you DO BETTER?” It is the Main Street Caucus that is the primary albatross doggedly preventing Congressional Republicans from doing better, and this cancer must be removed during the current election cycle.
There has been much debate among the grassroots over what exactly constitutes a RINO, a term that has certainly been overused throughout the years. But aggressive RINOism is at the fundamental core of the Main Street Caucus, a group that works insidiously to pour cold water on the Republican base, satiate the establishment, and sow seeds of discord within the GOP ranks. The roster of the Main Street Caucus should be the first who are chosen by America First patriots to endure fierce primary challenges. At the very least, the pressure would help move them to the Right, and if we can get a handful of scalps, it will send an indelible message that there is no room for weak, squishy Republican moderatism in the age of MAGA.
