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My whole deal is I want to have a principle-based, member-driven caucus.

The Freedom Caucus, like many of the members, feel like that we have too much of a top-heavy, power-based type of leadership program where the decisions are made exclusively at the top and that members voices are not heard, which means that our constituents' voices are not heard: those that we represent.

The Trump team recognizes the importance of the House Freedom Caucus.

The House Freedom Caucus has the same agenda today as it did yesterday, and that is to try to address the needs of each of our constituents, address the concerns the voters have been saying they have for a long time.

I'm not a Democrat, I'm an Independent, but I caucus with the Democrats.

I've been a conservative in West Virginia before that was popular. I've seen a change in West Virginia. Not a change in John Raese, but a change in West Virginia and a change in America.

Our party is a diverse one, as is my home state of Illinois.

Freedom Summer, the massive voter education project in Mississippi, was 1964. I graduated from high school in 1965. So becoming active was almost a rite of passage.

If it's necessary to join a caucus and get a committee assignment, I'll do it.