Conservative House Republicans unify to form the Louisiana Conservative Caucus to support fiscally conservative policies, the House Speaker, and the Republican Delegation Leader.
BATON ROUGE, May 25 – Conservatives in the Louisiana House of Representatives have unified together to form the Louisiana Conservative Caucus. The new caucus will focus on supporting the Speaker and the Republican Delegation to steer the legislature in a direction that more closely reflects the fiscally conservative values of Louisiana’s people. The Conservative Caucus is organized to promote Louisiana’s economic prosperity through the conservative principles of fiscal responsibility, protecting the unborn, and ensuring the protection of 2nd Amendment rights.
If needed, the Caucus will be able to withhold their votes to prevent a 70 vote majority that is required to pass many fiscal bills in the House. With 39 founding members, the “invite-only” Conservative Caucus is already positioned to be a dominating force in Louisiana politics. “While we have 39 founding members, within just a few days of being formed our voting numbers are already over 40. That means that we’ll control every tax, budget, and constitutional amendment that the Caucus takes a position on,” said Representative Jack McFarland (R- Winnfield), the newly elected chairman of the Conservative Caucus. He continued, “With that level of influence, we’re going to strengthen our Republican Delegation and ensure that our Republican Speaker knows that he can count on us to advance a conservative agenda.”
Representative Alan Seabaugh (R- Shreveport), a board member of the Conservative Caucus, added, “This group of mostly freshmen legislators will be the dominating force in state politics for the next decade. However, they’re also going to be forced to deal with the shortcomings and broken promises of their predecessors. Collectively, our biggest focus is on responsibly right-sizing our budget. We’ve made no progress in preparing for the ‘temporary’ 0.45% sales tax increase to expire in 2025. Instead, if this year’s budget passes, in just the last two budgets we’ll have increased recurring state spending by almost $600 million.”
Just last week, the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) recognized another $357 million for legislators to spend by July 1 and $320 million for them to spend after July 1. Despite the increase in allowed spending for this fiscal year and next, the state is still forecasting deficits of between a half a billion and a billion dollars in the coming years. “The abundance of federal money and the increased money from the REC gives us the opportunity to start responsibly fixing our budget. The formation of the Conservative Caucus couldn’t have come at a better time as we now have the ability to enforce fiscal constraints on our state’s spending while ensuring that we’re still taking care of our citizens’ needs,” said Representative Larry Frieman (R- Abita Springs), a Vice Chairman of the Conservative Caucus.
The Conservative Caucus has extended an invitation to Republican Delegation Leader Blake Miguez (R- Erath) who was recovering from an emergency surgery during its formation.
“I am proud to be a founding member of the Louisiana Conservative Caucus, a group of nearly 40 like-minded state representatives committed to fighting for traditional conservative values. The Caucus will stand for principles shared by the citizens of District 22 such as fiscal responsibility, protecting the unborn, and preserving our Constitutional right to bear arms,” said Gabe Firment District 22 Rep.
The Conservative Caucus can be found on Facebook @LaConservativeCaucus. Below is a complete list of the 39 founding members of the Louisiana Conservative Caucus:
Jack McFarland (R – Winnfield) – Chairman
Ray Garofalo (R – Chalmette) – 3rd Term Vice Chairman
Beryl Amedee (R – Houma) – 2nd Term Vice Chairman
Larry Frieman (R – Abita Springs) – 1st Term Vice Chairman
Rhonda Butler (R – Turkey Creek) – Secretary
Debbie Villio (R – Kenner) – Treasurer
Raymond Crews (R – Bossier City) – At Large Board Member
Polly Thomas (R – Metairie) – At Large Board Member
Gabe Firment (R – Pollock) – At Large Board Member
Alan Seabaugh (R – Shreveport) – Board Member
Tony Bacala (R – Prairieville)
Daryl Deshotel (R – Marksville)
Phillip DeVillier (R – Eunice)
Michael Echols (R – Monroe)
Rick Edmonds (R – Baton Rouge)
Kathy Edmonston (R – Gonzales)
Julie Emerson (R – Carencro)
Bryan Fontenot (R – Thibodaux)
Foy Gadberry (R – West Monroe)
Jonathan Goudeau (R – Lafayette)
Valarie Hodges (R – Denham Springs)
Paul Hollis (R – Covington)
John Illg (R – River Ridge)
Mike Johnson (R – Pineville)
Sherman Mack (R – Albany)
Danny McCormick (R – Oil City)
Nicholas Muscarello (R – Hammond)
Richard Nelson (R – Mandeville)
Joseph Orgeron (R – Larose)
Bob Owen (R – Slidell)
Chuck Owen (R – Rosepine)
Thomas Pressly (R – Shreveport)
Troy Romero (R – Jennings)
Rodney Schamerhorn (R – Hornbeck)
Laurie Schlegel (R – Jefferson)
Phillip Tarver (R – Lake Charles)
Bill Wheat (R – Ponchatoula)
Mark Wright (R – Covington)