Move over Republican Study
Committee. There’s about to be a new conservative group in town.
Just two months after the 172-member
organization elected Rep. Bill Flores of Texas as its new chairman, a
group of nine lawmakers decided to split from the RSC and form its own
conservative caucus.
The group doesn’t yet have a name,
but it will be led by former RSC Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio and Rep. Raúl
Labrador of Idaho. The other seven founding members are Reps. Justin Amash of
Michigan, Ron DeSantis of Florida, John Fleming of Louisiana, Scott Garrett of
New Jersey, Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, Mark Meadows of North Carolina and
Matt Salmon of Arizona.
More than three dozen lawmakers have
an interest in joining.
Flores beat out Mulvaney and Texas
Rep. Louie Gohmert for the RSC chairmanship. Flores’ election, though, sparked
concerns that he would side with House leadership on policy issues and debates.
Despite the formation of a new
conservative group, Flores remains confident that the RSC is remaining true to
its core conservative values.
“I am committed to working with all
House conservatives, and all Republican Study Committee members, who believe in
limited government and advancing liberty,” he said in a statement to The Daily
Signal.
“I am committed to working with all
House conservatives, and all Republican Study Committee members, who believe in
limited government and advancing liberty,” says @RepBillFlores
“Over the next Congress, there will
be healthy debates about how to best achieve those goals, and the Republican
Study Committee will play a critical role in fostering those debates to develop
conservative solutions that address our nation’s most pressing issues,” Flores
continued.
A Republican congressional aide told
The Daily Signal the new group is not intended to be anti-RSC. Instead, the
organization’s founding members are looking to create a caucus of conservative
lawmakers to draft and push conservative legislation.
In recent years, the RSC’s conservative
members have voiced concerns that the group drifted from the conservative roots
it was founded on in 1973. Additionally, membership has swelled to more than
170 lawmakers—more than half of all Republican lawmakers.
RSC members pay $2,500 in dues to join
and $5,000 in subsequent years.
By contrast, membership in the new
group will be by invitation only in an effort to maintain the integrity of the
organization, the Republican congressional aide said. Lawmakers invited will be
required to pay dues, allowing members to hire three to four staff members.
The group also plans to hold a
retreat.
Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, chairman
of the Republican Study Committee, says the group has ‘pulled the House to the
right.’
Discussions about the possible
formation of a new conservative group began around Flores’ election to the
chairmanship, a second GOP staffer told The Daily Signal in an interview.
However, his election didn’t serve as the trigger for its creation.
“Lawmakers were trying to look at
something that would get back to the original intent of what the RSC had in
mind: a conservative check on leadership’s agenda and a positive conservative
agenda to put in place,” the second staffer said.
Since then, the organization’s founding
members have met several times and have had discussions with former RSC members
who understood the original intent of the conservative group.
“The notion is that conservatives
need to be at the table in the discussion,” the second GOP staffer said. “They
need to have that check-valid role so when leadership sets the agenda, a group
can say they endorse it or offer an alternative that reflects the true nature
of the group.”
Reports suggest that members met
with conservative Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas over pizza on Tuesday night to
discuss the new group. However, Cruz’s office told The Daily Signal the senator
frequently holds gatherings to discuss issues that are important to
conservatives.
“The notion is that conservatives
need to be at the table in the discussion,” the second GOP staffer said. “They
need to have that check-valid role so when leadership sets the agenda, a group
can say they endorse it or offer an alternative that reflects the true nature
of the group.”
Lawmakers joining the new group can
remain members of the RSC, and not all plan to relinquish their membership, the
first Republican congressional aide said.
In addition to taking issue with the
direction of the RSC, the aide said the committee is no longer an asset for
policy analysis.
However, an RSC aide told The Daily
Signal the committee provides an analysis of every bill and offers a bevy of
resources for members. Additionally, the RSC aide said, the analysis often runs
contrary to the positions of House leadership and the Appropriations Committee.
“We’re focused on our positive
agenda at the RSC, and I think the RSC has done a lot to advance a conservative
agenda in the House over the last several years,” the RSC aide said. “We’re
going to continue doing that.”
The RSC aide said the committee
proposed strong reforms to the budget over the last two years that were later
picked up by leadership and the Republican conference. Additionally, the RSC
proposed a health care reform package that repealed Obamacare and implemented a
number of patient-centered reforms. The RSC aide said House leadership
disagreed with the legislation, but it ultimately garnered 133 cosponsors.
“It was fiscally responsible and
true to our principles,” the RSC aide said. “We weren’t waiting for a green
light to do that. Members wanted to do that. … That sort of product is key to
our core principles.”
Rep. Phil Crane, R-Ill., and others
founded the RSC in 1973 to promote and advocate for conservative policies. Ed
Feulner, former president of The Heritage Foundation, served as its first
executive director.
In an op-ed for The Daily Caller in
2011, Feulner contended
that the RSC doesn’t exist to facilitate compromise between Republicans.
Instead, he said the group serves to promote conservative principles and
fulfill “the mission that brought [lawmakers] to Washington.”
“Since its founding, the RSC has
never relished bucking party leadership, but it has never shied away from it
either,” Feulner wrote. “As one member noted in the earliest days, ‘We exist to
bring pressure from the right on the leadership. If we don’t do that, the only
pressure will be from the left, and policies will inevitably move in that
direction.’”
http://dailysignal.com/2015/01/15/conservative-lawmakers-prepare-split-republican-study-committee/
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