As House negotiators neared a six-month spending agreement tonight,
they set up late-week votes that could be the strongest political litmus
test yet for a freshman-heavy conservative Conference entering its
first re-election challenge.
The House Appropriations Committee finalized language for a half-year continuing resolution and introduced the bill this evening.
And while lawmakers and aides expressed confidence they will clear the stopgap bill and avert a pre-election shutdown, just who votes in favor of it - especially among tea-party-influenced Members - could be a sign of just how much this new class of lawmakers has learned from nearly two years of brinksmanship.
The defining narrative of this Congress has been deficit reduction, pushed mostly by an anti-government-spending class of 87 freshman House Republicans. But as November inches closer, Members will have to balance their promises to slash spending against the reality that a shutdown could be an irreversible gamble in their bid to win back the Senate and White House. For his part, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) seems optimistic, having recently said the group has "matured."
"If you ask any of the guys who were the hot spots in previous CR fights - say what you will, everybody fought really hard to get here - they can pretend that they want to shut the government down, but when you're facing your own re-election in the face - not just broadly Mitt Romney versus Barack Obama, but your own re-election - it's hard to see the political benefits of shutting the government down," one House Republican aide said.
Read more: http://www.rollcall.com/issues/58_19/Tea-Party-Freshmen-Are-Facing-Test-on-CR-217475-1.html?pos=htmbtxt
The House Appropriations Committee finalized language for a half-year continuing resolution and introduced the bill this evening.
And while lawmakers and aides expressed confidence they will clear the stopgap bill and avert a pre-election shutdown, just who votes in favor of it - especially among tea-party-influenced Members - could be a sign of just how much this new class of lawmakers has learned from nearly two years of brinksmanship.
The defining narrative of this Congress has been deficit reduction, pushed mostly by an anti-government-spending class of 87 freshman House Republicans. But as November inches closer, Members will have to balance their promises to slash spending against the reality that a shutdown could be an irreversible gamble in their bid to win back the Senate and White House. For his part, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) seems optimistic, having recently said the group has "matured."
"If you ask any of the guys who were the hot spots in previous CR fights - say what you will, everybody fought really hard to get here - they can pretend that they want to shut the government down, but when you're facing your own re-election in the face - not just broadly Mitt Romney versus Barack Obama, but your own re-election - it's hard to see the political benefits of shutting the government down," one House Republican aide said.
Read more: http://www.rollcall.com/issues/58_19/Tea-Party-Freshmen-Are-Facing-Test-on-CR-217475-1.html?pos=htmbtxt
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