House GOP freshmen united in ‘mindset’ if differing on points

House GOP freshmen class members say they are united in “mindset,”
despite differing on finer policy points.

The 87 members of the largest House GOP freshman class in decades
believe that voters sent them to D.C. to fulfill a “mandate.”

{mosads}Illinois freshman Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R) explained to The Hill that
that overarching mandate unites members of his class, even if they
differ on the means by which to fulfill it.

“Amongst the class there’s always going to be minor differences … but
we’re all sent with one big mandate: reduce the size of government,
get people back to work and the belief in working in the private
sector. We all have that bond in common,” Kinzinger said in an
interview on Saturday.

The class meets on a weekly basis when the House is in session,
sometimes as many as three times, to discuss ongoing legislation and
issues.

After voting unanimously to repeal the president’s healthcare bill in
January, the GOP freshmen again showed their united stance in the
recent battle to fund the government through the end of the fiscal
year in September.

And in that unity, comes leverage – enough leverage to convince GOP
leaders to rewrite a funding bill at the eleventh hour to make good on
campaign promises to cut $100 billion from the president’s 2011 budget
request.

The fact that they represent one-third of the GOP conference is not
lost on the new lawmakers, Florida Rep. Steve Southerland (R) told The
Hill.

“All I’ve got here is my vote – it’s the only leverage I’ve got,
especially when there’s 86 that believe the way I do,” Southerland
said in an interview.

Southerland was one of 10 freshmen to address GOP leaders at a
closed-door meeting on the class-wide discontent with the initial
government funding measure proposed by his party several weeks ago.

Though they were able to convince their leadership to rewrite the
continuing resolution, or CR, that would fund government operations
through the end of the fiscal year in September when current funding
expires on March 4, to reflect additional cuts, the class wasn’t
particular on details.

Southerland said that it was up to “appropriators” to figure out which
cuts to include in the underlying bill, just as long as those cuts
added up to $100 billion from the president’s 2011 budget request.
(The bill would only make $61 billion in cuts compared to 2010
spending, however.)

During four and a half days of votes on amendments to make additional
cuts to the funding measure, freshmen diverged on a number of issues.

Eight members of the GOP frosh class voted for a Democratic amendment
to prohibit Pentagon funds from sponsoring NASCAR races, while 28 GOP
freshmen opposed the Republican Study Committee (RSC) amendment that
would have made $22 billion in additional domestic cuts.

During an interview this week on FOX Business Network, freshman Rep. Mick
Mulvaney (R-S.C.) said, “Listen, I think folks, especially on the
other side of the aisle, are looking for division within the
Republican Party, and it’s just not there.”

Mulvaney, who pushed an amendment that would scale back spending to 2006 levels, did not mention his measure that fell short on the
House floor. Instead, he extolled the leadership’s plan to return
spending back to 2008 levels.

He said, “Right now, we’re all on the same page, which is stop the spending.”

Watching the vote tallies on the 100+ amendments was “fascinating to
see how diverse our country is, and how concerns are different from
district to district about individual issues but not about the tenets
of our freedom and the role of government. There’s great solidarity
there. The solidarity was there for the $100 billion in cuts,”
Southerland said.

Ultimately the measure passed in a vote of 235-189.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that the House-passed
long-term CR was dead on arrival in the upper chamber.

On Friday GOP leaders released details of a short-term, two-week
measure to continue funding the government, which includes $4 billion
in reductions based on cuts included in President Obama’s 2012 budget
request and unspent earmark money.

Reid seemed open to considering the stopgap bill that his House
counterparts proposed.

The stop-gap bill is to be considered on the House floor on Tuesday,
three days before current government funding runs out.

Before releasing details of that short-term measure, though, Boehner
and other House GOP leaders held a conference call with freshmen last
Wednesday.

Kinzinger predicted that the stopgap bill was acceptable to members of
his class because they appear united in opposition to
forcing a government shutdown.