Republ Study Commit RSC
<p><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hard core right of gop?</font></b>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Note: this is a proxy for rightwing, not all may be official members</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RSG? //? kennedy LA </font><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">many point to ideological marketing organizations like the Heritage Foundation</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> and Wa exmr</span></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/reagan-2659475294/">https://www.alternet.org/reagan-2659475294/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 1983, just before signing legislation that cut Social Security benefits, then-President Ronald Reagan <a href="https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/remarks-signing-social-security-amendments-1983" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">declared</a> that "we're entering an age when average Americans will live longer and live more productive lives."</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But Reagan's assumption of ever-rising life expectancy in the U.S. turned out to be false, according to a <a href="https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2023/02/27/social-security-full-retirement-age-increased-by-2-years-while-life-expectancy-decreased-0-4-years/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">new analysis</a>, a fact with painful consequences for those who saw their Social Security benefits pared back thanks to the 1983 law's gradual increase of the <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/ageincrease.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">full retirement age</a>—the age at which one is eligible for unreduced Social Security payments.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As Conor Smyth <a href="https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2023/02/27/social-security-full-retirement-age-increased-by-2-years-while-life-expectancy-decreased-0-4-years/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">wrote</a> Monday for the People's Policy Project, a left-wing think tank, the<b> <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/history/1983amend.html#::text=The%20law%20made%20other%20changes,will%20be%20made%20in%20January." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Social Security Amendments of 1983 </a>hiked the full retirement age "from 65 in 2000 to 67 at the end of 2022.</b>"</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"What this actually meant was not that the age at which people could retire and start drawing Social Security benefits changed—that remained at 62," Smyth explained. "Instead, by raising what's called the full retirement age (FRA) by two years, the law effectively cut benefit levels across the board, regardless of the age that any particular individual began claiming Social Security benefits. <b>The result is that those retiring at 62 today face a 50% greater penalty for retiring before the change than they would have before 2000."</b></span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The 1983 law was an <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v46n7/v46n7p3.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">outgrowth</a> of a special presidential commission headed by Alan Greenspan, a right-wing economist who would go on to serve as chair of the Federal Reserve for nearly two decades.</b></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Smyth noted that before final passage of the measure—which cleared the House and Senate with <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/history/tally1983.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">bipartisan support</a>, including from then-Sen. Joe Biden—"a <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/IncRetAge.html#::text=The%20age%20for%20collecting%20full,benefits%20will%20remain%20age%2062" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">popular</a> argument for raising the retirement age was that life expectancy had increased, so people should work for longer."</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">"The presumption was that the increase in life expectancy since Social Security's implementation would continue as the retirement age rose. But, in reality, something peculiar happened," Smyth wrote. "Over the same period during which the 1983 law forced the retirement age up from 65 to 67, life expectancy in the U.S. actually<b> declined.</b> In 2000, U.S. life expectancy <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2020-2021/LExpMort.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">was</a> 76.8 years. According to data released last December, life expectancy in 2021 <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db456.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">was</a> 76.4 years. This was the second consecutive year of significant life expectancy decline."</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"That's a drop of 0.4 years over a time span when the FRA rose by nearly two years," Smyth observed. "So not only have Americans seen their benefits cut by an increase in the FRA, they now also face a particularly morbid version of a benefit cut in the form of shorter lives."</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><img alt="" src="https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/image-people-s-policy-project.png?id=33102139&width=680&quality=80" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%;" /><small style="font-size: 17px;">
</small></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><small style="font-size: 17px;">(Image: People's Policy Project)</small></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The new analysis comes as some congressional Republicans are <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/social-security-house-republican" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">openly advocating</a> further increases in the retirement age, with one GOP lawmaker recently declaring that people "actually want to work longer."</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In a policy <a href="https://roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/documents/27601/fy23_budget_final_copy.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">agenda</a> released last year, the<b> House Republican Study Committee (RSC) echoed Reagan-era arguments</b> in favor of raising the full retirement age to 70—a change that would <a href="https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2022/10/26/what-does-it-mean-to-increase-the-social-security-retirement-age/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">cut Social Security benefits</a> across the board at a time when many retirees are <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/26/as-poverty-among-elders-rises-resources-these-can-help-struggling-seniors.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">struggling</a> to afford basic necessities.</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The RSC agenda states that Republican legislation known as <a href="https://www.ncpssm.org/documents/social-security-policy-papers/social-security-reform-act-of-2016/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">the Social Security Reform Act</a> would "continue the gradual increase of the normal retirement age that current law has set in motion at a rate of three months per year until it is increased by three years for those reaching age 62 in 2040, 18 years from now."</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"This adjustment," the document claims, "would begin to realign the Social Security full retirement age to account for increases in life expectancy since the program's creation."</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">President Biden and congressional Democrats have <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/10/21/i-will-not-yield-biden-vows-fight-any-gop-attack-social-security-medicare" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">pledged to reject</a> any proposed cuts to Social Security, which Republicans have threatened to pursue in exchange for a deal to raise the debt ceiling.</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In addition to urging Biden and Democratic lawmakers to stand firm against Social Security cuts, advocates are calling on the president to <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/expand-social-security" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">embrace</a> a Social Security expansion plan such as the one recently proposed by Sens. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/bernie-sanders" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Bernie Sanders</a> of Vermont and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/Elizabeth-Warren" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Elizabeth Warren</a> of Massachusetts, which would fund benefit increases by raising the <a href="https://cepr.net/ss-payroll-tax-2022/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">payroll tax cap</a> so that wealthier Americans contribute a more equal share to the program.</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"President Biden <a href="https://joebiden.com/older-americans/#" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">campaigned</a> on a promise to expand Social Security's modest benefits, while dedicating more revenue to it. Most Democratic <a href="https://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/sherrod-brown-leads-resolution-to-commit-to-protect-expand-social-security-benefits-in-the-face-of-republican-attacks" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">senators</a> and <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/5723/cosponsors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">members of the House</a> support that as well. Yet the mainstream media fails to take those proposals seriously," Nancy Altman, president of the advocacy group Social Security Works, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/expanding-social-security-biden-democrats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">wrote</a> in an op-ed for <b>Common Dreams</b> last week.</p><span style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"If the Biden administration championed an expansion plan, unveiled at a White House event with major stakeholders in attendance," Altman added, "that could not be ignored."</span></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div>an 1 23</div><div><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">republican Rep. Rick Allen of Georgia suggested last week that he would support raising the Social Security retirement age—a policy change that would <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/blog/raising-social-securitys-retirement-age-cuts-benefits-for-all-retirees" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">slash benefits</a> across the board—because people have approached him and said they "actually want to work longer."
</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Confronted by an advocate in the Capitol Building and asked how the GOP plans to cut Social Security, the congressman <a href="https://americanindependent.com/house-representatives-georgia-rick-allen-social-security-budget/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">responded</a>, "We're not going to cut Social Security."</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But seconds later, Allen contradicted himself by expressing support for raising the retirement age, saying the move would "solve every one of these problems"—not specifying what the "problems" are from his perspective.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Watch[vid]</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">allen is a member of the Republican Study Committee, a House GOP panel that released a <a href="https://roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/documents/27601/fy23_budget_final_copy.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">policy agenda</a> last year calling for gradually raising the "<a href="https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-01885" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">full retirement age</a>" from 67 to 70, partially privatizing the New Deal program, and mean-testing benefits.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As Matt Bruenig of the People's Policy Project, a left-wing think tank, has <a href="https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2022/10/26/what-does-it-mean-to-increase-the-social-security-retirement-age/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">explained</a>, raising the Social Security retirement age is "just a straightforward benefit reduction being expressed in an opaque way."</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Social Security does not have one retirement age. It has 96 retirement ages, one for each month between age 62 and 70," Bruenig wrote in October. "What people call the 'full retirement age' (FRA) is just a placeholder in a formula that determines the benefit level at all 96 retirement ages."</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">"When someone proposes increasing the retirement age to 68," he continued, "all they are really proposing is to cut monthly Social Security benefits by around 7% at all 96 retirement ages. A proposal to raise the retirement age to 70 is just a proposal to cut monthly benefits by around 23% at all 96 retirement ages."</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">House Republicans have repeatedly signaled in recent months that they will exploit every point of leverage they have—including a <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/yellen-debt-limit-republicans-economy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">fast-approaching showdown over the debt ceiling</a>—to <b>pursue long-sought cuts to Social Security under the guise of "saving" the program from a <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2022/06/02/2022-trustees-report-shows-protecting-and-expanding-social-security-fully" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">non-existent financial crisis</a>.</b></span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">During a House Republican conference meeting last week, a <a href="https://twitter.com/AnnieGrayerCNN/status/1612834961454936064" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">slide presentation</a> indicated that the GOP intends to use its narrow majority in the lower chamber to push for "reforms" to "mandatory spending programs"—a category that includes Social Security and Medicare.</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Republicans want you to work until you die," the progressive advocacy group Social Security Works <a href="https://twitter.com/SSWorks/status/1614779854905294848" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">tweeted</a> Sunday. "Shameful."</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, wrote in an op-ed for The Hill last week that "America's seniors cannot afford benefit cuts, including raising the eligibility ages for future Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries."</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Of course, the public is not demanding that Social Security and Medicare be cut. Quite the opposite: both programs remain overwhelmingly popular.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> A <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.filesforprogress.org%2Fdatasets%2F2022%2F7%2Fdfp_june22_ss_crosstabs.pdf&data=05%7C01%7CGottliebw%40NCPSSM.org%7C1332071e53404feba13d08daf28a30cd%7C23387965930541e0a7105455ce34a965%7C0%7C0%7C638088972586406646%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=B76LrgyDtOQFuwRaNn80G7%2FiTHTK1TDX%2BtENGFzXdMI%3D&reserved=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">large majority</a> of voters (83 percent) across party lines say they want to see Social Security expanded, not slashed, with the <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/595260-make-this-the-last-year-that-millionaires-stop-paying-into/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">wealthy contributing their fair share</a> in payroll taxes,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">" Richtman continued. "Nevertheless, McCarthy has empowered a handful of ultra-MAGA members to dictate policy for the new House majority."</span></p></div><div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, which is largely represented in the Democrat’s $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, would materially benefit millions of Americans through unprecedented investments in our social safety net and efforts to combat climate change. Polling suggests that the <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/why-popularity-biden-s-build-back-better-plan-matters-n1280250" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">spending bill is popular</a> among the American people. Expectedly, Fox News has characterized the package as a “socialist wish list” and picked off a litany of minor ticket items to rally outrage and opposition on the right. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Former Trump aide Stephen Miller’s description of the bill on the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3977351" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">October 16 edition of the Fox News show <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Watters’ World</em></a> is representative of how the network is using its tried-and-true dog whistles to poison and stoke fear about the bill:</b></font></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>STEPHEN MILLER (GUEST): It's basically the Green New Deal, combined with critical race theory, combined with massive amnesty and open borders, combined with the complete destruction of the American economy.</b></font></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Among the provisions Fox has characterized as the Green New Deal and mocked or grossly misrepresented are: the Civilian Climate Corps; an initiative referred to as Tree Equity; and a program intended to redress historic inequities and environmental injustices associated with zoning decisions and highway placement, which Fox has referred to as fixing “racists roads.”</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">Fox’s coverage of these programs has not attempted to describe what they entail or what they would accomplish for hundreds of communities. Rather, they have been used as punchlines or set up for cheap shots that reflect Fox’s racist ethos and climate denial — all under the guise of informing Fox’s audience about the policies contained in the reconciliation package.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox has grossly misrepresented the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">Civilian Climate Corps -- </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">“climate cops</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">” is not a thing KOCH FORK 4]</span></font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">The reconciliation bill includes $8 billion earmarked for the Civilian Climate Corps -- modeled after the depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps -- which would establish a government jobs program that would put Americans to <a href="https://grist.org/politics/biden-wants-10-billion-for-a-climate-army-its-not-enough/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“work conserving our public lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, and advancing environmental justice.”</a> The current funding for this program represents .4% of the $3.5 trillion spending in the bill. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">On October 12, the</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> Republican Study Committee chaired by Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN)</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);"> </span><a href="https://banks.house.gov/uploadedfiles/final_reconciliation.pdf" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 51); box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">released a memo</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);"> on policies contained in the reconciliation package, claiming that while the bill is polling favorably, support would tank if the American people understood what was in it. It lists among the “policies to wreck America” the Climate Civilian Corps, which the memo characterizes as “a cabal of federally funded climate police … who will conduct progressive activism on taxpayers’ dime.”</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>There isn’t even a grain of truth in how the committee characterized the program: “Climate police” is to the reconciliation bill what <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/six-weeks-foxs-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-obsession-totalitarian-ignorant-scary-and-waging" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“cow farts” was to the Green New Deal</a>. <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/climate-deniers/foxs-news-side-spreads-fake-story-biden-wants-ban-hamburgers" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">But that won’t stop conservative media from running with it.</a></b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The Republican Study Committee wasn’t the first to characterize the program this way -- during the early stages of drafting the bill, climate denier <b>Marc Morano s</b>uggested on <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://twitter.com/FoxFriendsFirst/status/1390374580896808965" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Fox & Friends First</a><a href="https://twitter.com/FoxFriendsFirst/status/1390374580896808965" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;"> </a></em>that participants could resemble “climate cops” -- but the memo certainly reinvigorated the idea on Fox.</span> </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">On the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3977356" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">October 12 edition of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Ingraham Angle</em></a>, Banks said the bill would “create a climate police department. This was a wacky idea that AOC came out with a couple of years ago. We all laughed at it because we thought it would never happen and now it’s on the brink of happening.” The following day, at least four programs described the program this way. On October 14, Banks appeared on both <a href="https://twitter.com/RepJimBanks/status/1448634709915877379" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Kudlow</em> on the Fox Business Network</a> and Fox News' <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://twitter.com/RepJimBanks/status/1448705227067174924" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Faulkner Focus</a></em>, claiming that the bill contains billions to create a “climate police department or a militia to go out and enforce Green New Deal policies."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[vid</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">October 14, 2021, episode of Fox News' <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Faulkner Focus]</span></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fox mocked and belittled provisions to address environmental injustices</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Notably, during the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Faulkner Focus</em> segment Banks also referred to a program to fi</span>x “racist roads.” In fact, what he’s referring to is a $4 billion fund intended to address historic inequities and environmental <b>injustices associated with zoning decisions and highway placement, which in some cases have <a href="https://www.cnu.org/what-we-do/build-great-places/claiborne-expressway" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">divided</a> once-thriving communities of color. The fund represents about .1% of the spending in the reconciliation bill.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Biden’s original infrastructure plan called for a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/highway-removal-infrastructure/2021/03/31/effd6a26-9234-11eb-a74e-1f4cf89fd948_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">$20 billion fund</a> to “reconnect” neighborhoods cut off by old transportation projects. This would benefit communities like one in New Orleans whose residents have lived under the Claiborne Expressway for decades and remember how vibrant their community was before “<a href="https://www.wwno.org/post/monster-claiborne-avenue-and-after-interstate" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Monster</a>” was built. After construction began on the highway in the 1960s, the once-thriving Tremé community, a <a href="https://nextcity.org/features/view/a-divided-neighborhood-comes-together-under-an-elevated-expressway" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">center of Black cultural and commercial life</a>, was divided and diminished. When the program was first introduced as part of the infrastructure plan, Fox’s <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-makes-compelling-case-against-bidens-infrastructure-plan-climate" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Tucker Carlson suggested, in a blatantly racist rant</a>, that the program was a form of reparations. This plan was cut in the bipartisan infrastructure bill negotiations, and a drastically reduced version is funded by the proposed $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Also among the litany of “controversial” items in the bill, often cited by Fox News hosts and anchors, is an initiative to plant trees, particularly in urban areas with less canopy cover to reduce the effects of extreme heat.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>For example, during the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3977371" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">October 13 edition of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Ingraham Angle</em></a>, host Laura Ingraham fearmongered that the bill will “bankrupt the next generation, steal the next generation” before listing the “priorities” embedded in the legislation:</b></font></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Eight billion bucks for a Civilian Climate Corps. It’s going to act basically as a<b> taxpayer-funded leftist police force. </b>$4 billion for equity — I love that word — in electric vehicle charging and tree planting.<b> $643 million would go toward procuring culturally appropriate foods</b> — I kid you not — for school lunches. Forget chicken tenders and Friday pizza, I guess.<b> Free community college for illegals, of course. They’ll be eligible for child tax credits as well. </b>My personal favorite, though — this is a drop in the bucket for the federal government. <b>$15 million for national resource centers focused on providing services for older individuals who are underserved due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.</b></font></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The tree equity initiative Ingraham refers to is a commonsense solution to addressing the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/heat-islands-and-equity" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">heat island effect</a>, which disproportionately impacts Black and brown communities across the US. Communities without sufficient canopy cover can reach <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/06/30/opinion/environmental-inequity-trees-critical-infrastructure.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">temperatures up to 10 degrees higher</a> than those that do, and one proven solution is to plant more trees in those neighborhoods.</span> </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On September 27, the day the reconciliation package was revealed, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3977486" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">America’s Newsroom</a> </em>included the tree equity plan as one of the “doozies” that was buried in the bill while the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3977491" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Faulkner Focus</a></em> also referred to it as one of the bill’s “hidden goodies” and mocked that there was <b>“$3 billion for tree planting and so-called tree equity. Important that the trees feel equal to one another.” </b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In fact, there has been no shortage of “equity” jokes -- Greg Gutfeld on the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3977471" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">September 29 edition</a> of his late-night show <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Gutfeld!</em> suggested that the program was meant to address “foilage privilege” (he meant “foliage”). And on the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3977476" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">October 2 edition of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends Saturday</em></a>, in response to the program, Pete Hegseth quipped, “The oak trees feel like they have been too dominant for too long.” But for all the punchlines, there has been little attempt to understand what the program is or explain the issue it is proven to address. </font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Predictably, Fox has not scratched the surface of what the reconciliation bill means for climate mitigation</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the climate and environmental justice provisions that Fox has featured in its reconciliation bill coverage represent just a fraction of its spending, they are not an insignificant part of the Biden administration’s larger climate agenda, of which addressing environmental injustices and <a href="https://grist.org/politics/biden-wants-10-billion-for-a-climate-army-its-not-enough/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">creating green union jobs</a> are core pillars.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> They should be reported on. But Fox has framed the reconciliation bill as a radical-socialist wish list of trivial programs -- in fact, it represents, from a climate perspective, possibly the last chance to enact meaningful U.S. policies for the foreseeable future, which could <a href="https://www.cjr.org/covering_climate_now/congress-reconciliation-bill-cop26-climate.php" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">make or break the global response to the climate crisis</a></span>. But as long as Fox keeps its viewers revved up over “cow farts” and “climate cops” its base will never see the burning forest for the equitable trees.</font></p></div></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref banks rsc doc:</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://banks.house.gov/uploadedfiles/final_reconciliation.pdf">https://banks.house.gov/uploadedfiles/final_reconciliation.pdf</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>TO: Republican Study Committee members</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>FROM: Chairman Jim Banks</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">DATE: October 12, 2021</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">RE: Reconciliation Roundup</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">RECONCILIATION ROUNDUP: Policies to Wreck America</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">TOPLINE: We as congressional Republicans have an urgent duty to tell the truth about what’s REALLY in</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the Democrats’ $3.5T<b> big government socialist takeover a</b>nd warn the American people what’s coming.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This bill is a disaster and should be polling at 20%. We all know it.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">So, how can we explain the 52-55% approval its garnered in the polls? The chief reason that it keeps</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">polling favorably is because we haven’t done a good enough job letting the American people know what’s</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">in it.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Here’s what happens to public opinion when the public learns what’s in these<b> Democrat</b> bills. In March,</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">before Democrats’ $1.9 trillion package passed, 70% of Americans said they favored it. Polled again in</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">August—five months after the bill was enacted, only 35% of Americans said the bill was helping improve</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the economy or will do so in the future.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">To be fair, this is the Democrats’ strategy. They’ve played ‘hide the ball’ with the bill text so as not to tip</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">off the public as to what they’re putting in their bills. Then, they bring it to the floor and tout some poll</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">numbers and scare their members into voting for it.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Luckily, due to Democrats’ stalled legislative agenda, we have bill text and a window into their plan. If we</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">effectively communicate about this bill, we’ll see those poll numbers drop.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I’ve directed staff at the Republican Study Committee to pore over the bill’s pages and produce for you a</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">summary of the worst parts of the bill. Please read and share these points on social media, newsletters,</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">opinion-editorials, and whatever other format you use to get your message out.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>1. Perpetuates labor shortage: </b>Continues welfare benefits without work requirements for able-bodied</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">adults without dependents at a time where there are 10.1 million job openings—more openings than</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">there are people looking for work.</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">2. Commissions a climate police</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">: Democrats stuffed $8 billion into the bill to commission a cabal of</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">federally funded climate police called the Civilian Climate Corps (CCC) who will conduct progressive</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">activism on taxpayers’ dime (pages 8, 21, and 926).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">3.<b> Pushes Green New Deal in our public schools</b>: Requires funding for school construction be used</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">largely on enrollment diversity and Green New Deal agenda items (page 55).</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">4.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Pushes Green New Deal in our <b style="">universities: </b>Democrats include a $10 billion “environmental</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">justice” higher education slush fund to indoctrinate college students and advance Green New Deal</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">policies (page 1,935).</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">5. <b>Forces faith-based child care providers out</b>: The bill blocks the ability of many faith-based</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">providers from participating in the childcare system and will lead to many of their closures (page</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">280).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">6. Hurts small and in-home daycares: Requires pre-K staff to have a college degree. (page 303)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">7. Includes new incentives for illegal immigration: Illegal immigrants will be eligible to take</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">advantage of Democrats’ new ‘free’ college entitlement (page 92) as well be eligible for additional</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">student aid (page 147) and the enhanced child tax credit (page 1,946).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>8. Includes legislative hull for Biden’s vaccine mandate:</b> Increases OSHA penalties on businesses</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">that fail to implement the mandate up to $700,000 per violation and includes $2.6 billion in funding</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">for the Department of Labor to increase enforcement of these penalties (page 168).</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">9. Gives unions near-total control</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">: The bill includes insane prohibitions that would bind employers’</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">hands in union disputes and dangerously tilt the balance of power, subjecting employers to penalties</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">that exempt union bosses and officials… among other things this bill would prevent employers from</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">permanently replacing striking workers (page 175). It coerces businesses to meet union boss</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">demands by increasing Fair Labor Standards Act penalties by an astronomical 900% (page 168).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">10.Makes unions bigger and more powerful: The bill would subsidize union dues that would only</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">serve to strengthen the influence of union bosses and not American workers (page 2323).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">11.<b>Pushes Democrats’ wasteful and confusing school lunch agenda: </b>$643 million for, among other</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">things, “procuring…culturally appropriate foods” (page 333).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">12.Furthers<b> radical abortion agenda: </b>Does not include the Hyde amendment and would mandate</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">taxpayers pay for abortions (page 198) & (page 336).</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">13.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Drives up costs on Americans’ utility bills</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">: Issues a punitive methane tax (page 367) and includes a</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">tax on natural gas up to $1,500 per ton that could cost the American economy up to $9.1 billion and</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">cost 90,000 Americans their jobs (page 368).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">14.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Includes dangerous & deadly green energy mandate</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">: Effectively forces Americans to get 40% of</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">their energy from wind, solar and other unreliable forms of energy within 8 years (page 392).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Reliance on these energy sources has proven deadly.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">15<b>.Includes kickbacks for the Left’s green energy special interest network: </b>$5 billion for</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“environmental and climate justice block grants” (page 377) and another $100 billion in green energy</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">special interest subsidies, loans and other carve outs.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">16<b>.Gives wealthy Americans tax credits: $222 billion in “green energy” tax credits will be given to</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>those who can afford expensive electric vehicles and other “green” innovative product</b>s (page 1832).</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">17.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Furthers Democrats’ social justice agenda: Includes “equity”</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> initiatives throughout the bill and, in</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">one instance,<b> Democrats inserted “equity” language into a title which should have been focusing on</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>the maintenance of the United States’ cyber security efforts</b> (page 897).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">18<b>.Grants amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants:</b> House Democrats have included in their</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">reconciliation bill a plan to grant amnesty to around 8 million illegal immigrants at a cost of around</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">$100 billion over ten years that would largely be spent on welfare and other entitlements (page 901).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Trillions more would be spent long term on their Social Security and Medicare.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">19<b>.Opens border even wider:</b> The bill would waive many grounds for immigration inadmissibility,</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">including infection or lack of vaccination status during a Pandemic, failure to attend removal</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">proceedings in previous immigration cases, and the previous renouncement of American citizenship.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">DHS may also waive previous convictions for human trafficking, narcotics violations, and illegal</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">voting (page 903).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">20<b>.Increases visa limit: At least 226,000 family-preference visas </b>would be administered each year</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(page 905).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">21<b>.Grants fast-tracked green cards for those seeking middle-class careers in America:</b> Language</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">included in the bill exempts certain aliens from the annual green card statutory limits and has been </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">described as a “hidden pipeline for U.S. employers to flood more cheap foreign graduates into</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">millions of middle-class careers needed by American graduates”<b> (page 910)</b>.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">22<b>.Includes pork for Nancy Pelosi:</b> $200 million is earmarked for the Presidio Trust in Speaker Pelosi’s</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">congressional district (page 933).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">23.<b>Increases energy dependence on OPEC, Russia and China: </b>The bill prohibits several mineral and</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">energy withdrawals (page 979). It overturns provisions included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">authorized energy production in the Arctic that will result in 130,000 Americans losing their jobs and</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">$440 billion in lost federal revenue (page 983) and the mineral withdrawals it prohibits would,</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ironically, include minerals necessary for renewable energy sources (pages 934, 940, 943).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">24.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">Exacerbates the chip shortage: The bill would mandate the conversion of the entire federal vehicle</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">fleet from internal combustion engines to electric engines at a time when there is a global microchip</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">shortage and crippled supply chains</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> (page 1,043).</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">25<b>.Democrats’ feckless China bill</b> is included: Concepts from the insanely weak Endless Frontier Act</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">included, including $11 billion in research funding that will likely result in American intellectual</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">property going to China (page 1079 - 1081).</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">26.</span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Chases green energy pipe dreams:</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);"> </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">$264 million to the EPA to conduct research with left-wing</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">environmental justice groups on how to transition away from fossil fuels</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> (page 1063).</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">27.<b>Fixes “racist” roads and bridges</b>: Adds a nearly $4 billion slush fund that would help left-wing</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">grassroots organizations that, among other things, want to tear down and rebuild or otherwise alter</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">infrastructure deemed “racist” (page 1183).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">28<b>.Punishes red states for failing to adopt Green New Deal provisions: Mandates “consequences” for</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>conservative states that don’t meet the radical Left’s “green” climate standards </b>while at the same time</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">adding nearly $4 billion for “Community Climate Incentive Grants” for cooperating states (page 1179).</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">29<b>.Includes new massive, bankrupting entitlement</b>: </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The new paid leave entitlement would mandate</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">workers get 12 weeks of paid leave and would cost $500 billion over ten years according to the CBO</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(page 1245). It would apply to those making up to half a million dollars a year (page 1254).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">30.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Advances a totalitarian and paternalistic view of the federal government</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">: Includes grants for</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">organizations to treat individuals suffering from “loneliness” and “social isolation.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">31.<b>Further detaches individuals from employment and more reliant on government handouts:</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The bill spends $835 billion on welfare through manipulating the tax code [not including the</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">expansions of Obamacare subsidies] (page 1943).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">32.Tax benefits for the top 1%: The bill will possibly lift the SALT deduction cap meaning many of the</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">top 1% wealthiest Americans would pay less in taxes.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">33.<b>Tax credit for wealthy donors who give to woke universities</b>: The bill creates a new tax credit</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">program that gives tax credits worth 40% of cash contribution that are made to university research</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">programs (page 2094).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">34.<b>Expands worst parts of Obamacare</b>: Obamacare’s job-killing employer mandate will become more</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">severe by adjusting the definition of “affordable coverage” to mean coverage that costs no more than</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">8.5 percent of income rather than current law’s 9.5 percent of income (page 2041).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">35.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Increases taxes on Americans at every income level</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">: $2 trillion in tax hikes will fall on those</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">making under $400,000 per year, contrary to what the White House says. Individuals at all income</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">levels will be affected (Ways and Means GOP).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">36.Lowers wages for working families: The corporate tax rate will increase by 5.5%, meaning</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">American companies will face one of the highest tax burdens in the world. According to analysis, </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">two-thirds of this tax hike will fall on lower- and middle-income taxpayers (page 2110).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">37.<b>Penalizes marriage:</b> The bill would permanently double the EITC’s marriage penalty on childless</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">worker benefits (page 2036).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">38.Imposes crushing taxes on small business: Guts the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act small business</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">deductions that reduced pass-through entity taxes to keep them comparable to taxes imposed on</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">corporations (page 2235) as well as hammer small businesses that file as individual tax earners with</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the 39.6% rate (page 2221) and Obamacare’s 3.8% tax on net investment income. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">39</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">.Crushes family businesses and farms: The bill would impose a 25% capital gains rate (page 2226)</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">and makes alterations to the Death Tax including cutting the Death Tax exemption in half </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(page</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2240).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">40.Violates Americans’ financial privacy: $80 billion slush fund to hire an 87,000-IRS-agent army to</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">carry out the Biden administration’s plan to review every account above a $600 balance or with more</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">than $600 of transactions in a year. (page 2283).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">41<b>.Increases out of pocket costs for those who rely on prescription drugs:</b> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The bill repeals the</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Trump-era Rebate Rule which passes through rebates directly to consumers at the point of sale</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> (page</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2465).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">42.Imports policies from countries with<b> socialized medicine:</b> The bill includes healthcare policies</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">imported from systems in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom—all</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">countries that have government-run healthcare systems (page 2349).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Conclusion: </b>Each of these 42 bullets is enough to vote against the bill. Taken together—it’s mindblowingly corrupt. We need to loudly oppose it.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Democrats are scattered. The Biden agenda is in question. It’s the perfect opportunity to build public</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">sentiment against this bill. The American people need us to be the vanguard against the Left’s radical</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">plans.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">It’s not an understatement to say this bill, if passed, will fundamentally change our country forever—</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Americans will wake up in a few years and <b>wonder what happened to their freedom.</b> We can’t let that</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">happen. </span></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/house-republicans-paint-a-labor-vision-thats-straight-out-of-the-19th-century-robber-barons-era/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/house-republicans-paint-a-labor-vision-thats-straight-out-of-the-19th-century-robber-barons-era/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Ten House Republicans who fashion themselves policy wonks are out with their diagnosis of what ails the American worker. Their proposed cure is a future that would be brutish, nasty and short.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Hobbesian, dog-eat-dog policies the Republican Study Group proposes would enhance the power of those born to privilege, just so long as nothing knocks them off their comfortable perch.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The report proposes:</b></font></p><ol class="ee-ol" style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>No forgiveness of student loans </b>even though our federal government authorized students to borrow huge sums to attend worthless commercial schools that went bankrupt, leaving them with no degree, just debt. The Republican plan lacks even the mercy provisions for debtors written into Hammurabi's Code almost 4,000 years ago, which wiped away debts when storms, war or corruption ruined a borrower's finances.</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A turn away from comprehensive higher education, especially liberal arts, to focus on technical skills and employability. </b>Forget about developing the rigorous and thoughtful minds that enable young people to become informed citizens.</font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Throughout, the report makes recommendations that would require a larger federal government workforce to police workers, students, poor people and immigrants.</font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Empower workers by further weakening, if not eliminating, unions.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> The<b> Republican Study Group report</b> calls for workers to have more freedom to negotiate directly with their employers, a solution in search of a problem. "Our approach would unleash the full potential of the American people by refocusing labor policy to provide workers more control over their own future," [SEE CA PROP 22 BS ADS I HAVE TIME/FREEDONM TO TAKE CARE OF MY AA GPA]the report states. Given that individual workers are mostly commodities, that's the equivalent of urging that each grain of wheat in a silo be free to negotiate whether it goes into the grist mill first or last.</span></font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Get tough on the poor and immigrants, who are portrayed as greedy thieves who shirk work, especially during the coronavirus pandemic</b>. The poor and hungry get the blame for high levels of what the report artfully calls "improper payments" despite evidence that mostly these are screwups by federal agencies, not applicants. Not a word, by the way, is said about thieving defense contractors, farmers and other business operators even though <a href="https://www.paymentaccuracy.gov/payment-accuracy-high-priority-programs/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">a link in the report</a> is full of examples where such businesses benefit from fraud, waste and abuse.</font></li></ol><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The 66-page report, <a href="https://rsc-johnson.house.gov/sites/republicanstudycommittee.house.gov/files/%5BFINAL%5D%20Reclaiming%20the%20American%20Dream%20.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Reclaiming the American Dream: Proposals to Empower the Workers of Today and Tomorrow</a>, is amazingly slipshod. Frankly, the study group, lead by<b> Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La</b>.) and its staff should be ashamed that they published such low-quality work.</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Many hypertext links in the End Notes don't work, including the first. Others point to web pages that generate a <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/many-americans-are-getting-more-money-from-unemployment-than-they-were-from-their-20jobs/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">"404" page missing</a> response. While some End Notes refer to official data, many point to ideological marketing organizations like the Heritage Foundation and <a href="https://www.heritage.org/jobs-and-labor/commentary/coronavirus-unemployment-relief-shouldnt-include-600-weekly-bonus-payment" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">polemics based on <em>a priori </em>assumptions</a>.</font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Anti-Unions Claim</font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Bizarrely, the report characterizes unions as holding down the compensation of members. That's absurd since the whole point of collective bargaining is to ensure that workers get fairly paid for their contribution to their employer's financial success.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Consider this lie on Page 32: "Under current law, union contracts set both a wage floor and a wage ceiling. As a result, individual workers cannot be given raises, including performance-based raises, by their employer."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No law is cited because none exists. And not one example of a contract that prohibits merit pay is cited in the report or in the <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/why-unions-dont-want-workers-to-earn-more" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">right-wing newspaper article</a> to which it links. I've negotiated a labor contract and I've read countless such collective bargaining agreements, none of which had prohibition of merit pay or bonuses. It's possible they exist, but the Study Group fails to show any evidence.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How revealing, though, that the Republican Study Group describes its imaginary prohibition on merit pay and bonuses as entirely a problem with unions rather than employers. The incentive to hold down pay lies with companies, not unions.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The report's attacks on labor unions as a detriment to members comes right out of the Donald Trump playbook in which making stuff up or distorting it without any respect for facts is the name of the game. Just make the claim and damn reality.</b></font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contradictory Approach</font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Throughout, the report makes recommendations that would require a larger federal government workforce to police workers, students, poor people and immigrants. Many more auditors and investigators would be needed to investigate anyone who relies on what remains of America's tattered social safety net.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Implementing the proposed changes also would require massive investments in technology, primarily computers to both operate federal programs and to find people who abuse these benefits.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neglecting to propose these expansions of investigative staff and computer systems makes the study group report empty rhetoric that reveals its members' mindset, favoring much more top-down power and punishment.</font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Attacking Working-Class Leisure</font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The report attacks not working, something a wealthy nation could reasonably aspire to achieve. "Among the civilian labor force, less than half of those who fail to complete high school are participating in the labor force," the report states, accurately.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Heaven forbid that people not work. This is on a theme with Trump, who throughout his 2016 campaign complained that too many Americans were not working.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course, there are many reasons people don't work, especially the "poorly educated" whom Trump often says he loves.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those reasons include staying home to raise children, which Republicans used to hail as a virtue. Then there's caring for elderly parents or a disabled spouse or just enjoying leisure instead of chasing every last buck.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Unmentioned in the report are government policies that have driven down wages for the "poorly educated," an issue examined in my </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">2014 anthology <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Divided-Perils-Our-Growing-Inequality/dp/1620970856" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">DIVIDED: The Perils of Our Growing Inequality</a></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. For the many people whom nature or education made fit only for unskilled work, wages are now so low that it doesn't pay to get a job and can actually make you worse off.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We would have more people working if we moved to the shorter workweeks and mandatory paid vacations found in, say, Germany. That's anathema to the Study Group's perspective.</font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tough Luck for Scammed Students</font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Another bizarre claim is that forgiving the debt of students swindled by corrupt fake colleges "would actually drive up the cost of college tuition and send the message that students who make irresponsible borrowing decisions will ultimately be bailed out by the federal government."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">What of the responsibility of Congress, under both Democratic and Republican majorities, and presidents from both parties who enabled fake colleges and who put in place the harsh student loan rules that are also examined in my 2014 anthology </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Divided-Perils-Our-Growing-Inequality/dp/1620970856" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">DIVIDED</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. My 2008 bestseller </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Free-Lunch-Wealthiest-Themselves-Government/dp/1591842484/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Free Lunch</a> tells of a student loan company that bought a Gulfstream jet to ferry members of Congress around gratis, the kind of institutional bribery that can distort the priorities of lawmakers.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nowhere does the Republican Study Group propose the most obvious answer to America's higher education affordability issues. To prepare our young for the increasingly complex world of the future, we could simply restore the mid-20th century policies of making public higher education tuition-free or nearly so, an investment of tax dollars to build a prosperous and durable future.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Not everything in the report is without merit. The federal government operates, the study group says, 90 social welfare programs. Consolidating and simplifying those programs is a worthy goal. The report, though, is antagonistic to such programs, making any reader reasonably suspicious of changes the Study Group would seek.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This misunderstanding of the American students' and workers' needs should come as no surprise considering the signatories of this report. Nine are male. All ten are white.</font></p></div></div><div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></p></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bs:</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the end, of course, Boehner won handily, with barely enough people voting against him to make it into the double digits. However, those who did vote against him were among the House’s most stalwart conservatives, and almost without exception, their votes – for candidates such as Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Eric Cantor (R-VA) – went to candidates who were members of <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">one little known, but highly influential group: The Republican Study Committee, or RSC.</span></font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meet Steve Scalise, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, and New Conscience for House Conservatives</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Photo Credit: AP)</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For those with knowledge of the inner workings of Congress, this fact should surprise no one. The RSC, which is known in many circles as the voice of committed conservatives within the House of Representatives, boasts an impressive 170 members of Congress, all Republicans, in its ranks. In other words, while Republicans control the majority in the House, the RSC controls the majority of the Republicans. This may explain why the last minute fiscal cliff deal, which garnered opposition from House conservatives generally, and the RSC especially, passed thanks to the votes of Democrats, rather than Republicans. Such is the pull of this little known group.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meet Steve Scalise, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, and New Conscience for House Conservatives</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Paul Weyrich, founder of the RSC (Photo Credit: AP)</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The history of the RSC reads in some ways like a who’s who of conservatism. Founded in 1973 by conservative organizing giant Paul Weyrich, who would later go on to found the Heritage Foundation as well, and in whose name a weekly lunch is still held for conservatives. The RSC was explicitly designed to keep a handle on Republican congressional leaders and prevent them from moderating too aggressively. Given that 7 of 9 members of the current Republican leadership in the House are themselves members of the RSC (Speaker Boehner and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy being the lone exceptions), this mission is presumably much easier in the present climate.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is not difficult to see why ambitious politicians would flock to this group. Among its past members are two former Vice Presidents (Dan Quayle and Dick Cheney), as well as seven sitting Senators and three sitting Governors. Of those Governors, Mike Pence, the current Governor of Indiana, and a man who many floated in the last election as a Presidential prospect, and no doubt will be floated again in 2016, spent two years as leader of the RSC. Jim Jordan, who until this year was the chair of the RSC, earned more than a few feathers in his cap by nearly passing a budget that outpaced even Rep. Paul Ryan’s in fiscal conservatism, and acting as one of Boehner’s lead internal critics on the debt ceiling deal two years ago.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meet Steve Scalise, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, and New Conscience for House Conservatives</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Speaker John Boehner (left) and Rep. Jim Jordan (right) (Photo Credit: AP)</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here’s Jordan explaining his opposition to making “deals” over taxation:</font>
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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, now that Jordan has stepped down, a new face has assumed control of the group, and with it, the position of “conscience” for House conservatives. That new leader is Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who was described by the American Spectator this way prior to his election:</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> In just four years, Scalise has forged a reputation as an intelligent bulldog with an appetite for chomping away at big government. Consider several of his high-profile accomplishments.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> First, Scalise authored an amendment that made it all the way into law, despite objections from President Obama, that eliminated four of Obama’s unaccountable policy “czars.”</font>
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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Second, while everybody else in a committee hearing seemed to be kowtowing to the supposed moral authority of former Vice President Al Gore on cap-and-trade legislation, Scalise effectively raked Gore over the coals, as can be seen in this video link. (He did much the same to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, calling him to account for Chu’s earlier advocacy of high gas prices as a good idea and blasting him for his role in the Solyndra scandal.) Indeed, Scalise has made himself perhaps the “go-to guy” for all House conservatives when it comes to energy policy.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Third — and this one was fun — Scalise almost single-handedly stopped Barack Obama from being the Grinch who taxed Christmas trees. Obama tried to assess a 15-cent tax on trees as a “fee,” but Scalise got wind of it and, as Fox News noted, raised such a stink that Obama was forced to reverse himself.[...]</font>
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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> His conservative interest-group ratings are strong, too: 97 lifetime from the American Conservative Union, 100 lifetime from National Right to Life, 100 lifetime from the National Federation of Independent business, and an A+ from the National Rifle Association.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meet Steve Scalise, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, and New Conscience for House Conservatives</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Steve Scalise (Photo Credit: AP)</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scalise won election to his position by a close vote against Rep. Tom Graves of Georgia, and is already generating buzz. Said one Senior GOP aide, “RSC Chairman Jim Jordan is a hard act to follow, but it looks to most folks I know that Chairman Scalise is doing it. He’s already pushing back against leadership, advancing some conservative ideas, and banking some wins.”</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here’s Scalise talking about the necessity for serious solutions after the 2012 election on CBS:</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To find out how Scalise himself plans to keep “banking wins,” TheBlaze interviewed him via email about his view of the future of the conservative movement broadly and the Republican Study Committee specifically:</font>
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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TheBlaze: What do you see as the key issues for the conservative movement in the present climate?</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scalise: The primary issue for the conservative movement is preserving the American Dream for our children by cutting spending and getting us on a path to balance the federal budget. I have two young children and every vote I take I think about the impact it will have an their ability to have the same opportunities I enjoyed when I grew up. Washington needs to work towards solutions that will reduce our debt and deficit so that we can get our economy back on track and future generations are not burdened by our mistakes today.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TheBlaze: In the past, you have stated that the RSC “needs to actually focus on implementing conservative solutions.” What conservative solutions do you think should be offered, and to which issues? Will you be introducing legislation on these issues?</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scalise: There is a place for conservative solutions to all the big problems that are currently facing America and I plan for the RSC to continue bringing legislation forward to solve those problems from a conservative perspective. One example of legislation RSC will be promoting involves health care, where our Members have bills not only to repeal Obamacare, but also to replace it with conservative solutions that will lower costs for families by promoting competition and innovation without the taxes and mandates in the President’s law. We also plan on bringing an RSC jobs bill that focuses on economic growth by lowering tax rates, increasing American energy production, and rolling back the radical regulations that are killing jobs and stifling growth.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RSC members have and will continue to produce conservative legislation. The latest conservative solution that is being embraced by leadership is achieving a balanced budget in 10 years, which was has been a hallmark of the RSC’s budget. </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TheBlaze: Given that you control a majority of House Republicans, including 7 of the 9 current members of leadership, how closely do you expect to work with the leadership to push the RSC’s goals?</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scalise: The job of the RSC is to be the conservative rudder of the House, and that means we should fight to promote conservative legislation to our nation’s problems and push our leadership to bring those bills to the House Floor, but we also stand ready to pull our leadership back to the right when they veer off course. </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TheBlaze: You’ve stated in the past that it is necessary for Republicans to “unite as conservatives if we’re going to get things done.” How far does the necessity to unite extend? Will you still push back on leadership?</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scalise: With more than 165 members, the RSC is a powerful bloc of votes in the Republican conference, and I intend to unify the RSC around conservative solutions as we present common sense alternatives to the problems facing our nation. House Republicans have been most united when we are fighting for conservative principles, whether it was our support for the RSC-proposed “Cut, Cap, and Balance” legislation, or our united opposition to the failed stimulus and Obamacare. There will be times when we are in agreement with our leadership’s approach to the challenges we face, but there will also be times when we disagree with our leadership. During those times when we disagree with our leadership, we will work to pull them back to the right, but also stand ready to fight any proposals that violate our conservative principles.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TheBlaze: What areas of public policy do you think conservatives have ignored to their detriment?</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scalise: Conservatives have not paid enough attention to getting our agenda enacted into law. We have come up with great solutions to America’s problems, but have been largely unsuccessful at getting conservative policy enacted. A bill that does not get passed, no matter how great the bill is, does not help American families who are struggling under the weight of Obama’s failed agenda, and this Congress I hope to work with the RSC to pass bills that will help preserve the American Dream, put us on the path to a balanced budget, and finally cut spending so we can reduce the mountain of debt that has been piled on the backs of our children and grandchildren.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TheBlaze: The RSC was founded by Paul Weyrich, who was never elected to Congress. Do you foresee grassroots activists and other outsiders being able to influence Congress so directly in the future?</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scalise: I see the grassroots as an important part of the RSC, and in fact just Wednesday I spoke at the Weyrich lunch. The RSC would not be the powerful force we are today without this strong grassroots influence, and I look forward to continuing to work with conservative outside groups to help us achieve our shared beliefs and goals so we can advance the conservative movement.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/05/the-cabal-that-quietly-took-over-the-house/276213/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive<b>/2013/</b>05/the-cabal-that-quietly-took-over-the-house/276213/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">quite long, newt 1994 neutered?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>...Not long ago, it would have been ludicrous for the House speaker to approach the Republican Study Committee on bended knee, much less to depend on it to restore harmony to the conference. </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The committee's philosophy of governance would vex any speaker: Members consider themselves conservatives first and Republicans second. They did not come to Washington to play for the Republican team; they came to fight for conservative principles. If that means voting against party interests, so be it. For core RSC believers, ideological purity trumps legislative accomplishment. Period.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For decades, the group was seen as a parasitic anomaly--a fringe organization of hopeless ideologues surviving off the perception of undue moderation among Republican leadership. Several previous speakers had bullied or ignored it, and one even dissolved the RSC in a quest to squelch internal dissent. For decades, the committee's membership rolls were thin, and internal GOP debates didn't matter much anyway, because the party was in the minority.</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...To fathom the psyche of Congress's most conservative lawmakers, it's useful to study the ferocity with which they protect the RSC's autonomy. Whenever the House leadership has even hinted at meddling with the group--rumors swirled last fall that Boehner would try to oust Executive Director Paul Teller at the start of the next session--the reaction has been swift and sharp. In this case, conservatives successfully lobbied to keep Teller on as a counterbalance to Scalise, whom some RSC members saw as too cozy with leadership. This history of insulating their group from external interference dates back two decades, when someone the committee considered a friend betrayed it.</font></div><div class="blah" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.2em; display: grid; grid-template-areas: " a="a" b="b" grid-template-columns="grid-template-columns" fr="fr" px="px" margin-top="margin-top" em="em"><div class="l-articlecontainercontainer" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: none; width: 736px; -webkit-box-flex: 1; flex-grow: 1; align-self: start; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / span 1;"><section class="l-articlesection s-cms-content" itemprop="articleBody" id="article-section-3" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 64px; line-height: 1.4;"><div data-template="hippo/components/ads/article-mobile.html" data-native="standard,gift" data-pos="boxinjector-m" class=" ad-boxinjector-m-wrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>After Republicans won control of the House of Representatives in 1994, ending a four-decade stint as the permanent political underclass, the ambitious new speaker, Newt Gingrich, planned several shake-ups. Among his first priorities was to get rid of the Republican Study Committee</b>, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">which he viewed as a threat to the harmony of the House Republican Conference</span>. To eliminate the RSC--while avoiding the appearance that he was singling out conservatives--Gingrich devised a plot to abolish all Legislative Service Organizations, the 28 groups that functioned with the "shared staff" model perfected by groups such as the RSC and the Congressional Black Caucus. The new speaker spoke craftily about the need to save taxpayer money and eliminate unnecessary expenses, but the message was clear to every conservative in Washington:<b> Gingrich was determined to eliminate the group that could endanger his speakership.</b></font></p></div></section></div><aside class="l-rail l-rail--right l-rail--4" role="complementary" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; flex-basis: 300px; flex-shrink: 0; min-width: 300px; grid-area: 1 / 2 / span 1 / auto; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; -webkit-box-direction: normal; flex-direction: column; -webkit-box-pack: center; justify-content: center;" /></div><div data-section="full" data-pos="boxinjector-d" data-template="hippo/components/ads/article-desktop.html" data-native="standard,gift" class=" ad-boxinjector-d-wrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="blah" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.2em; display: grid; grid-template-areas: " a="a" b="b" grid-template-columns="grid-template-columns" fr="fr" px="px" margin-top="margin-top" em="em"><div class="l-articlecontainercontainer" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: none; width: 736px; -webkit-box-flex: 1; flex-grow: 1; align-self: start; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / span 1;"><section class="l-articlesection s-cms-content" itemprop="articleBody" id="article-section-4" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 64px; line-height: 1.4;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He began immediately after the 1994 election by convening a meeting of the next House Republican Conference--all returning members, plus the incoming freshmen. Numerous newbies, having heard about the RSC, were devastated when Gingrich's staff announced it was going away. Two of them, John Shadegg of Arizona and Steve Largent of Oklahoma, spoke up. "The entire freshman class was there, and we were taking over the majority," Shadegg recalls. "Largent and I got up and argued it ought to be saved."</font></p><div data-template="hippo/components/ads/article-mobile.html" data-native="standard,gift" data-pos="boxinjector-m" class=" ad-boxinjector-m-wrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When the meeting adjourned, Majority Leader Dick Armey yanked Shadegg and Largent into an adjacent room. "Nice try, but it's gone," Armey told them. By abolishing the RSC, the new speaker neutralized a potential menace. But in doing so, he also provoked some GOP members who were incredulous that their self-styled conservative leader would attack a bastion of conservative activism. One of them was Ernest Istook, an outspoken sophomore from Oklahoma, who whispered to a colleague during that meeting, "It can't be healthy for all the resources to be concentrated in the hands of party leadership." Istook wanted to know where rank-and-file members would turn for objective analyses on leadership-endorsed legislation.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He wasn't alone. Having arrived in Washington together in 1990, GOP Reps. John Doolittle of California and Sam Johnson of Texas shared a friendship and political philosophy. RSC members both, they were stunned by the power play. Almost immediately, they began plotting to revive the organization</span>. To circumvent Gingrich's restrictive language, they needed someone with intricate knowledge of both the old RSC infrastructure and the House itself. No one was better qualified than Dan Burton of Indiana, who was RSC chairman at the time of its dissolution. <b>Burton, too, had been scheming to resurrect the committee.</b></font></p><div data-template="hippo/components/ads/article-mobile.html" data-native="standard,gift" data-pos="boxinjector-m" class=" ad-boxinjector-m-wrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As these three began strategizing around the new House rules, they recruited Istook. He suggested that rather than spend House resources on RSC employees, lawmakers should instead hire part-time staffers who could roam between offices working for different members on RSC projects. "We set up a structure of rotating the payroll for these employees from one office to the next, so that everyone was, in effect, sharing the cost but working within the new rules," Istook explains.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now the four members could reboot the RSC, but they wanted a fresh start and a new name to emphasize aggressive ideology over passive partisanship. Istook suggested CAT, for Conservative Action Team. The others approved, and soon Istook was printing lapel pins featuring a roaring mountain lion and distributing them to conservative members curious about rumors of the RSC's resurrection. The rechristened group had returned--with a new generation of leaders....</font></p></div></div></section></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee</a>
</font></p>
<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en"><span dir="auto"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republican Study Committee</font></span></h1>
<div id="siteSub"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</font></div>
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<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <b>Republican Study Committee</b> (<b>RSC</b>) is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucus" title="Caucus">caucus</a> of over 170 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism" title="Conservatism">conservative</a> members of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Republican_Party" title="United States Republican Party" class="mw-redirect">Republican Party</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives" title="United States House of Representatives">United States House of Representatives</a>. Though the primary functions of the Republican Study Committee vary from year to year, it has always pushed for significant cuts in non-defense spending, advocated <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socially_conservative" title="Socially conservative" class="mw-redirect">socially conservative</a> legislation, and supported the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_keep_and_bear_arms" title="Right to keep and bear arms">right to keep and bear arms</a>. It has proposed an alternative budget every year since 1995, with notable decreases in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_spending" title="Pork spending" class="mw-redirect">pork spending</a>. It has unveiled its plan to balance the budget without increasing income taxes. Its alternative budget proposals are regularly praised by the editors of <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Review" title="National Review">National Review</a></i>, a leading conservative journal of opinion. The RSC's current Executive Director is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Teller" title="Paul Teller">Paul Teller</a>.</font></p>
<table id="toc" class="toc"><tbody><tr><td>
<div id="toctitle">
<h2><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contents</font></h2>
</div>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee#Initiatives"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Initiatives</span></font></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee#History"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">History</span></font></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee#Connections"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Connections</span></font></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee#Members"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Members</span></font></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee#See_also"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">See also</span></font></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee#References"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">6</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></font></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee#External_links"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">7</span> <span class="toctext">External links</span></font></a></li>
</ul>
</td></tr></tbody></table>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Initiatives"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Initiatives</font></span></h2>
<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The RSC's key legislative initiatives are detailed in the American Taxpayer Bill of Rights,<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee#cite_note-1"><span>[</span>1<span>]</span></a></sup> unveiled in March 2007.</font></p>
<ol>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Taxpayers have a right to have a federal government that does not grow beyond their ability to pay for it.</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Taxpayers have a right to receive back each dollar that they entrust to the government for their retirement.</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Taxpayers have a right to expect the government to balance the budget <b>without</b> having their taxes raised.</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Taxpayers have a right to a simple, fair tax code that they can understand.</font></li>
</ol>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="History"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">History</font></span></h2>
<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It was founded in 1973 by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Weyrich" title="Paul Weyrich">Paul Weyrich</a> and other conservative activists to keep a watch on the House Republican leadership, which they saw at the time as too moderate. Their formation mirrored the rise of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Study_Group" title="Democratic Study Group">Democratic Study Group</a>, a liberal force in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Democratic_Caucus" title="House Democratic Caucus" class="mw-redirect">House Democratic Caucus</a> founded in 1948. The group's first chairman was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Crane" title="Phil Crane">Phil Crane</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois" title="Illinois">Illinois</a>. The group briefly dissolved in 1995 after the Republicans won control of the House for the first time in 40 years when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich" title="Newt Gingrich">Newt Gingrich</a> abolished it and other similar groups.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, it was almost immediately refounded as the <b>Conservative Action Team</b> (CATs) by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Burton" title="Dan Burton">Dan Burton</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana" title="Indiana">Indiana</a> (the last chairman of the original RSC), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Johnson" title="Sam Johnson">Sam Johnson</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas" title="Texas">Texas</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Doolittle" title="John Doolittle">John Doolittle</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California" title="California">California</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Istook" title="Ernest Istook">Ernest Istook</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma" title="Oklahoma">Oklahoma</a>. The four founders alternated as chairmen throughout the next two Congresses until <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_M.McIntosh" title="David M. McIntosh">David McIntosh</a> of Indiana became chairman in 1998. When he resigned from the chairmanship in 2000 to focus on his run for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Indiana" title="Governor of Indiana">governor of Indiana</a>, Johnson reassumed the chairmanship. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Shadegg" title="John Shadegg">John Shadegg</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona" title="Arizona">Arizona</a> became chairman in 2001, renaming it the RSC soon after taking over. Shadegg increased the group's membership from 40 members in 2001 to 70 members in 2003. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Myrick" title="Sue Myrick">Sue Myrick</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina" title="North Carolina">North Carolina</a> was the first woman to serve as chair from 2003 to 2005. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Pence" title="Mike Pence">Mike Pence</a> of Indiana served as chairman from 2005 to 2007 and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeb_Hensarling" title="Jeb Hensarling">Jeb Hensarling</a> of Texas served as chairman from 2007 to 2009. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Price%28Georgia%29" title="Tom Price (Georgia)" class="mw-redirect">Tom Price</a> of Georgia succeeded Hensarling in 2009. After the Republicans regained control of Congress in the 2010 elections, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jordan_%28Ohio_politician%29" title="Jim Jordan (Ohio politician)">Jim Jordan</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio" title="Ohio">Ohio</a> was elected chairman of the RSC. After the 2012 elections, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Scalise" title="Steve Scalise">Steve Scalise</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana" title="Louisiana">Louisiana</a> was elected as chairman.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Several members of the RSC have held high positions in the House leadership. Presently, seven of the nine top Republican leaders—Majority Leader <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Cantor" title="Eric Cantor">Eric Cantor</a>, Chief Deputy Whip <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Roskam" title="Peter Roskam">Peter Roskam</a>, Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling, Conference Vice-Chairwoman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathy_McMorris_Rodgers" title="Cathy McMorris Rodgers">Cathy McMorris Rodgers</a>, Conference Secretary <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carter%28Texas%29" title="John Carter (Texas)">John Carter</a>, Policy Committee chairman Tom Price, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Republican_Congressional_Committee" title="National Republican Congressional Committee">National Republican Congressional Committee</a> chairman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Sessions" title="Pete Sessions">Pete Sessions</a>—are members of the RSC. Only two members of Republican leadership are<span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> not members</span> of the RSC: Speaker <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boehner" title="John Boehner">John Boehner</a> (who is, by tradition, the leader of the House Republicans) and Majority Whip <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_McCarthy%28California_politician%29" title="Kevin McCarthy (California politician)">Kevin McCarthy</a>.</font></p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Connections"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Connections</font></span></h2>
<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The organization has long had ties to outside groups closely allied with the most conservative elements of the Republican Party, such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rifle_Association" title="National Rifle Association">National Rifle Association</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation" title="The Heritage Foundation">The Heritage Foundation</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_on_the_Family" title="Focus on the Family">Focus on the Family</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerned_Women_for_America" title="Concerned Women for America">Concerned Women for America</a> and the conservative magazine <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Review" title="National Review">National Review</a></i>, as well as the libertarian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_Institute" title="Cato Institute">Cato Institute</a>.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A subgroup of the committee, the Values Action Team, coordinates legislation with religious organizations, including the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_right" title="Christian right">Christian right</a>. It has been headed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Pitts" title="Joe Pitts" class="mw-redirect">Joe Pitts</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania" title="Pennsylvania">Pennsylvania</a> since its formation in 1997.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The RSC membership list is available at the group's website.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee#cite_note-2"><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></a></sup> Former <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States" title="Vice President of the United States">Vice President</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Quayle" title="Dan Quayle">Dan Quayle</a>, former <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States" title="Vice President of the United States">Vice President</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Cheney" title="Dick Cheney">Dick Cheney</a>, and former House Majority Leader <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_DeLay" title="Tom DeLay">Tom DeLay</a> are among its former members. In addition, at least seven sitting senators— <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Coburn" title="Tom Coburn">Tom Coburn</a> (OK), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Toomey" title="Pat Toomey">Pat Toomey</a> (PA), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Vitter" title="David Vitter">David Vitter</a> (LA), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Burr" title="Richard Burr">Richard Burr</a> (NC), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boozman" title="John Boozman">John Boozman</a> (AR), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_DeMint" title="Jim DeMint">Jim DeMint</a> (SC), and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Wicker" title="Roger Wicker">Roger Wicker</a> (MS)—were members of the RSC while serving in the House. Current governors Mike Pence (IN), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butch_Otter" title="Butch Otter">Butch Otter</a> (ID) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Jindal" title="Bobby Jindal">Bobby Jindal</a> (LA) were also members.</font></p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Members"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Members</font></span></h2>
<div class="thumb tright">
<div class="thumbinner" style=" width: 352px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:113th_US_House_Republican_Study_Committee.svg" class="image"><img src="/69d3e6ba-4341-5dd7-9c1f-751170006844.png"/></a>
</font><div class="thumbcaption">
<div class="magnify"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:113th_US_House_Republican_Study_Committee.svg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><img brain="false" src="https://bits.wikimedia.org/static-1.22wmf5/skins/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" height="11" width="15" /></font></a></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
Map of House caucus members during the 113th Congress</font></div>
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</div>
<div class="thumb tright">
<div class="thumbinner" style=" width: 352px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:112th_US_House_Republican_Study_Committee.svg" class="image"><img src="/852f7791-03d7-53c0-9b20-6713a8eded44.png"/></a>
</font><div class="thumbcaption">
<div class="magnify"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:112th_US_House_Republican_Study_Committee.svg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><img brain="false" src="https://bits.wikimedia.org/static-1.22wmf5/skins/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" height="11" width="15" /></font></a></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
Map of House caucus members during the 112th Congress</font></div>
</div>
</div>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama" title="Alabama"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alabama</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_D._Rogers" title="Mike D. Rogers">Mike D. Rogers</a> (AL-3)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Aderholt" title="Robert Aderholt">Robert Aderholt</a> (AL-4)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks" title="Mo Brooks">Mo Brooks</a> (AL-5)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Bachus" title="Spencer Bachus">Spencer Bachus</a> (AL-6)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona" title="Arizona"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arizona</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gosar" title="Paul Gosar">Paul Gosar</a> (AZ-4)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Schweikert" title="David Schweikert">David Schweikert</a> (AZ-5)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Franks" title="Trent Franks">Trent Franks</a> (AZ-8)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas" title="Arkansas"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arkansas</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Crawford" title="Rick Crawford">Rick Crawford</a> (AR-1)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Griffin" title="Tim Griffin" class="mw-redirect">Tim Griffin</a> (AR-2)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Womack" title="Steve Womack">Steve Womack</a> (AR-3)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Cotton" title="Tom Cotton">Tom Cotton</a> (AR-4)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California" title="California"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">California</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_LaMalfa" title="Doug LaMalfa">Doug LaMalfa</a> (CA-1)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_McClintock" title="Tom McClintock">Tom McClintock</a> (CA-4)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Denham" title="Jeff Denham">Jeff Denham</a> (CA-10)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_McKeon" title="Howard McKeon" class="mw-redirect">Buck McKeon</a> (CA-25)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Royce" title="Ed Royce">Ed Royce</a> (CA-39)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Miller" title="Gary Miller">Gary Miller</a> (CA-42)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B.T.Campbell_III" title="John B. T. Campbell III">John Campbell</a> (CA-48)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrell_Issa" title="Darrell Issa">Darrell Issa</a> (CA-49)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_D._Hunter" title="Duncan D. Hunter">Duncan D. Hunter</a> (CA-50)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado" title="Colorado"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Colorado</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Tipton" title="Scott Tipton">Scott Tipton</a> (CO-3)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Gardner" title="Cory Gardner">Cory Gardner</a> (CO-4)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Lamborn" title="Doug Lamborn">Doug Lamborn</a> (CO-5)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Coffman" title="Mike Coffman">Mike Coffman</a> (CO-6)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida" title="Florida"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Florida</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Miller_%28Florida_politician%29" title="Jeff Miller (Florida politician)">Jeff Miller</a> (FL-1)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Southerland_%28Florida%29" title="Steve Southerland (Florida)" class="mw-redirect">Steve Southerland</a> (FL-2)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Yoho" title="Ted Yoho">Ted Yoho</a> (FL-3)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_DeSantis" title="Ron DeSantis">Ron DeSantis</a> (FL-6)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Posey" title="Bill Posey">Bill Posey</a> (FL-8)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Webster_%28Florida_politician%29" title="Daniel Webster (Florida politician)">Dan Webster</a> (FL-10)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Nugent" title="Rich Nugent">Rich Nugent</a> (FL-11)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Bilirakis" title="Gus Bilirakis">Gus Bilirakis</a> (FL-12)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Ross" title="Dennis Ross">Dennis Ross</a> (FL-15)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vern_Buchanan" title="Vern Buchanan">Vern Buchanan</a> (FL-16)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Rooney_%28politician%29" title="Tom Rooney (politician)">Tom Rooney</a> (FL-17)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trey_Radel" title="Trey Radel">Trey Radel</a> (FL-19)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia%28U.S.state%29" title="Georgia (U.S. state)">Georgia</a></b></font></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kingston" title="Jack Kingston">Jack Kingston</a> (GA-1)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Westmoreland" title="Lynn Westmoreland">Lynn Westmoreland</a> (GA-3)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Price_%28Georgia%29" title="Tom Price (Georgia)" class="mw-redirect">Tom Price</a> (GA-6)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Woodall" title="Rob Woodall">Rob Woodall</a> (GA-7)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Scott_%28politician%29" title="Austin Scott (politician)">Austin Scott</a> (GA-8)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Collins_%28politician%29" title="Doug Collins (politician)">Doug Collins</a> (GA-9)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Broun" title="Paul Broun">Paul Broun</a> (GA-10)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Gingrey" title="Phil Gingrey">Phil Gingrey</a> (GA-11)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Graves_%28politician%29" title="Tom Graves (politician)" class="mw-redirect">Tom Graves</a> (GA-14)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho" title="Idaho"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Idaho</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra%C3%BAl_Labrador" title="Raúl Labrador">Raúl Labrador</a> (ID-1)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois" title="Illinois"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Illinois</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Roskam" title="Peter Roskam">Peter Roskam</a> (IL-6)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Hultgren" title="Randy Hultgren">Randy Hultgren</a> (IL-14)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Shimkus" title="John Shimkus">John Shimkus</a> (IL-15)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Schock" title="Aaron Schock">Aaron Schock</a> (IL-18)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana" title="Indiana">Indiana</a></b></font></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Walorski" title="Jackie Walorski">Jackie Walorski</a> (IN-2)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlin_Stutzman" title="Marlin Stutzman">Marlin Stutzman</a> (IN-3)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Rokita" title="Todd Rokita">Todd Rokita</a> (IN-4)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Brooks" title="Susan Brooks">Susan Brooks</a> (IN-5)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Messer" title="Luke Messer">Luke Messer</a> (IN-6)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Bucshon" title="Larry Bucshon">Larry Bucshon</a> (IN-8)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Young" title="Todd Young">Todd Young</a> (IN-9)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa" title="Iowa"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Iowa</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_King" title="Steve King">Steve King</a> (IA-4)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas" title="Kansas"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kansas</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Huelskamp" title="Tim Huelskamp">Tim Huelskamp</a> (KS-1)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Jenkins" title="Lynn Jenkins">Lynn Jenkins</a> (KS-2)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Yoder" title="Kevin Yoder">Kevin Yoder</a> (KS-3)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Pompeo" title="Mike Pompeo">Mike Pompeo</a> (KS-4)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky" title="Kentucky"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kentucky</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Guthrie" title="Brett Guthrie">Brett Guthrie</a> (KY-2)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Massie" title="Thomas Massie">Thomas Massie</a> (KY-4)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Barr%28U.S.politician%29" title="Andy Barr (U.S. politician)">Andy Barr</a> (KY-6)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana" title="Louisiana"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Louisiana</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Scalise" title="Steve Scalise">Steve Scalise</a> (LA-1) <b>Chairman</b></font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fleming%28U.S.politician%29" title="John Fleming (U.S. politician)">John Fleming</a> (LA-4)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland" title="Maryland"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Maryland</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_P._Harris" title="Andrew P. Harris">Andy Harris</a> (MD-1)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan" title="Michigan"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michigan</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Benishek" title="Dan Benishek">Dan Benishek</a> (MI-1)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Huizenga" title="Bill Huizenga">Bill Huizenga</a> (MI-2)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Amash" title="Justin Amash">Justin Amash</a> (MI-3)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lee_Camp" title="David Lee Camp" class="mw-redirect">Dave Camp</a> (MI-4)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Walberg" title="Tim Walberg">Tim Walberg</a> (MI-7)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota" title="Minnesota"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Minnesota</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kline_%28politician%29" title="John Kline (politician)">John Kline</a> (MN-2)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_Bachmann" title="Michele Bachmann">Michele Bachmann</a> (MN-6)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi" title="Mississippi"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mississippi</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Nunnelee" title="Alan Nunnelee">Alan Nunnelee</a> (MS-1)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg_Harper" title="Gregg Harper">Gregg Harper</a> (MS-3)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Palazzo" title="Steven Palazzo">Steven Palazzo</a> (MS-4)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri" title="Missouri"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Missouri</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicky_Hartzler" title="Vicky Hartzler">Vicky Hartzler</a> (MO-4)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Graves" title="Sam Graves">Sam Graves</a> (MO-6)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Long" title="Billy Long">Billy Long</a> (MO-7)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaine_Luetkemeyer" title="Blaine Luetkemeyer">Blaine Luetkemeyer</a> (MO-9)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana" title="Montana"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Montana</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Daines" title="Steve Daines">Steve Daines</a> (at-large)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska" title="Nebraska"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nebraska</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Fortenberry" title="Jeff Fortenberry">Jeff Fortenberry</a> (NE-1)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_M._Smith" title="Adrian M. Smith" class="mw-redirect">Adrian M. Smith</a> (NE-3)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey" title="New Jersey"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Jersey</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Garrett" title="Scott Garrett">Scott Garrett</a> (NJ-5)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico" title="New Mexico"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Mexico</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Pearce_%28politician%29" title="Steve Pearce (politician)">Steve Pearce</a> (NM-2)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York" title="New York"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New York</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Grimm_%28politician%29" title="Michael Grimm (politician)">Michael Grimm</a> (NY-13)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_L._Hanna" title="Richard L. Hanna">Richard Hanna</a> (NY-22)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Reed_%28politician%29" title="Tom Reed (politician)">Tom Reed</a> (NY-23)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Collins_%28American_politician%29" title="Chris Collins (American politician)">Chris Collins</a> (NY-27)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina" title="North Carolina"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">North Carolina</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renee_Ellmers" title="Renee Ellmers">Renee Ellmers</a> (NC-2)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Foxx" title="Virginia Foxx">Virginia Foxx</a> (NC-5)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Coble" title="Howard Coble">Howard Coble</a> (NC-6)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hudson" title="Richard Hudson">Richard Hudson</a> (NC-8)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Pittenger" title="Robert Pittenger">Robert Pittenger</a> (NC-9)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_T._McHenry" title="Patrick T. McHenry" class="mw-redirect">Patrick McHenry</a> (NC-10)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Meadows_%28North_Carolina_politician%29" title="Mark Meadows (North Carolina politician)">Mark Meadows</a> (NC-11)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Holding" title="George Holding">George Holding</a> (NC-13)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Dakota" title="North Dakota"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">North Dakota</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Cramer" title="Kevin Cramer">Kevin Cramer</a> (at-large)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio" title="Ohio"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ohio</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Chabot" title="Steve Chabot">Steve Chabot</a> (OH-1)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Wenstrup" title="Brad Wenstrup">Brad Wenstrup</a> (OH-2)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jordan_%28Ohio_politician%29" title="Jim Jordan (Ohio politician)">Jim Jordan</a> (OH-4)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Latta" title="Bob Latta">Bob Latta</a> (OH-5)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Johnson_%28Ohio_politician%29" title="Bill Johnson (Ohio politician)">Bill Johnson</a> (OH-6)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Gibbs" title="Bob Gibbs">Bob Gibbs</a> (OH-7)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Turner" title="Mike Turner">Mike Turner</a> (OH-10)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Joyce_%28politician%29" title="David Joyce (politician)">David Joyce</a> (OH-14)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Stivers" title="Steve Stivers">Steve Stivers</a> (OH-15)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Renacci" title="Jim Renacci">Jim Renacci</a> (OH-16)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma" title="Oklahoma">Oklahoma</a></b></font></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bridenstine" title="Jim Bridenstine">Jim Bridenstine</a> (OK-1)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markwayne_Mullin" title="Markwayne Mullin">Markwayne Mullin</a> (OK-2)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lucas_%28politician%29" title="Frank Lucas (politician)" class="mw-redirect">Frank Lucas</a> (OK-3)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Cole" title="Tom Cole">Tom Cole</a> (OK-4)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Lankford" title="James Lankford">James Lankford</a> (OK-5)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania" title="Pennsylvania"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pennsylvania</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Kelly_%28Pennsylvania%29" title="Mike Kelly (Pennsylvania)">Mike Kelly</a> (PA-3)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Perry_%28politician%29" title="Scott Perry (politician)">Scott Perry</a> (PA-4)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_%22G.T.%22_Thompson" title="Glenn " g.t="G.T" thompson="Thompson" class="mw-redirect">Glenn Thompson</a> (PA-5)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Rothfus" title="Keith Rothfus">Keith Rothfus</a> (PA-12)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_R._Pitts" title="Joseph R. Pitts">Joe Pitts</a> (PA-16)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Carolina" title="South Carolina"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">South Carolina</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Wilson%28U.S.politician%29" title="Joe Wilson (U.S. politician)">Joe Wilson</a> (SC-2)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Duncan_%28politician%29" title="Jeff Duncan (politician)">Jeff Duncan</a> (SC-3)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trey_Gowdy" title="Trey Gowdy">Trey Gowdy</a> (SC-4)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Mulvaney" title="Mick Mulvaney">Mick Mulvaney</a> (SC-5)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota" title="South Dakota"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">South Dakota</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristi_Noem" title="Kristi Noem">Kristi Noem</a> (at-large)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee" title="Tennessee"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tennessee</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Roe_%28politician%29" title="Phil Roe (politician)">Phil Roe</a> (TN-1)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Fleischmann" title="Chuck Fleischmann">Chuck Fleischmann</a> (TN-3)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_DesJarlais" title="Scott DesJarlais">Scott DesJarlais</a> (TN-4)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Black" title="Diane Black">Diane Black</a> (TN-6)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsha_Blackburn" title="Marsha Blackburn">Marsha Blackburn</a> (TN-7)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Fincher" title="Stephen Fincher">Stephen Fincher</a> (TN-8)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas" title="Texas"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Texas</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louie_Gohmert" title="Louie Gohmert">Louie Gohmert</a> (TX-1)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Poe" title="Ted Poe">Ted Poe</a> (TX-2)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Johnson" title="Sam Johnson">Sam Johnson</a> (TX-3)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Hall" title="Ralph Hall">Ralph Hall</a> (TX-4)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeb_Hensarling" title="Jeb Hensarling">Jeb Hensarling</a> (TX-5)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Barton" title="Joe Barton">Joe Barton</a> (TX-6)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Culberson" title="John Culberson">John Culberson</a> (TX-7)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Brady" title="Kevin Brady">Kevin Brady</a> (TX-8)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_McCaul" title="Michael McCaul">Michael McCaul</a> (TX-10)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Conaway" title="Mike Conaway">Mike Conaway</a> (TX-11)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay_Granger" title="Kay Granger">Kay Granger</a> (TX-12)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Thornberry" title="Mac Thornberry">Mac Thornberry</a> (TX-13)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Weber" title="Randy Weber">Randy Weber</a> (TX-14)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Flores" title="Bill Flores">Bill Flores</a> (TX-17)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Neugebauer" title="Randy Neugebauer">Randy Neugebauer</a> (TX-19)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamar_S._Smith" title="Lamar S. Smith">Lamar Smith</a> (TX-21)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson" title="Pete Olson">Pete Olson</a> (TX-22)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Marchant" title="Kenny Marchant">Kenny Marchant</a> (TX-24)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams%28U.S.politician%29" title="Roger Williams (U.S. politician)">Roger Williams</a> (TX-25)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_C._Burgess" title="Michael C. Burgess">Michael Burgess</a> (TX-26)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Farenthold" title="Blake Farenthold">Blake Farenthold</a> (TX-27)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carter_%28Texas%29" title="John Carter (Texas)">John Carter</a> (TX-31)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Sessions" title="Pete Sessions">Pete Sessions</a> (TX-32)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Stockman" title="Steve Stockman">Steve Stockman</a> (TX-36)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah" title="Utah"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Utah</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Bishop" title="Rob Bishop">Rob Bishop</a> (UT-1)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Stewart_%28politician%29" title="Chris Stewart (politician)">Chris Stewart</a> (UT-2)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Chaffetz" title="Jason Chaffetz">Jason Chaffetz</a> (UT-3)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia" title="Virginia"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Virginia</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Wittman" title="Rob Wittman">Rob Wittman</a> (VA-1)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Rigell" title="Scott Rigell">Scott Rigell</a> (VA-2)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Forbes" title="Randy Forbes">Randy Forbes</a> (VA-4)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hurt_%28Virginia_politician%29" title="Robert Hurt (Virginia politician)" class="mw-redirect">Robert Hurt</a> (VA-5)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Goodlatte" title="Bob Goodlatte">Bob Goodlatte</a> (VA-6)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Cantor" title="Eric Cantor">Eric Cantor</a> (VA-7)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Griffith" title="Morgan Griffith">Morgan Griffith</a> (VA-9)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington%28U.S.state%29" title="Washington (U.S. state)" class="mw-redirect"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Washington</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Herrera_Beutler" title="Jaime Herrera Beutler">Jaime Herrera Beutler</a> (WA-3)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathy_McMorris_Rodgers" title="Cathy McMorris Rodgers">Cathy McMorris Rodgers</a> (WA-5)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia" title="West Virginia"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">West Virginia</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_McKinley" title="David McKinley">David McKinley</a> (WV-1)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin" title="Wisconsin"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wisconsin</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ryan_%28politician%29" title="Paul Ryan (politician)" class="mw-redirect">Paul Ryan</a> (WI-1)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Duffy" title="Sean Duffy">Sean Duffy</a> (WI-7)</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reid_Ribble" title="Reid Ribble">Reid Ribble</a> (WI-8)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming" title="Wyoming"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wyoming</font></a></b></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_Lummis" title="Cynthia Lummis">Cynthia Lummis</a> (at-large)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>NOTE</b>: <i>Italics</i> means the Representative retired or was defeated in his/her primary or general election</font></p>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="See_also"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">See also</font></span></h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Main_Street_Partnership" title="Republican Main Street Partnership"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Republican Main Street Partnership</font></a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Progressive_Caucus" title="Congressional Progressive Caucus"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Congressional Progressive Caucus</font></a></li>
</ul>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="References"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">References</font></span></h2>
<ul>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/9/9/95352.shtml">Republicans Urge Suspension of Davis-Bacon Wage Act for Katrina Recovery</a> Jim Meyers, <i>NewsMax.com</i> 9 September 2005</font></li>
<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/16/AR2005101601055.html?sub=AR">House GOP Leaders Set to Cut Spending</a> Jonathan Weisman <i>Washington Post</i> 19 October 2005</font></li>
</ul>
<div class="reflist" style=" list-style-type: decimal;">
<ol class="references">
<li id="cite_note-1"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee#cite_ref-1"></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://rsc.jordan.house.gov/Solutions/TaxpayerBillofRights.htm">http://rsc.jordan.house.gov/Solutions/TaxpayerBillofRights.htm</a></span></font></li>
<li id="cite_note-2"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee#cite_ref-2"></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://rsc.jordan.house.gov/AboutRSC/Members/">[1]</a>, RSC's 2012 website.</span></font></li>
</ol>
</div>
<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="External_links"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">External links</font></span></h2>
<ul>
<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://rsc.tomprice.house.gov/default.aspx"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Official Site</font></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Categories" title="Help:Categories">Categories</a>:
</font><ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Caucuses_of_the_United_States_Congress" title="Category:Caucuses of the United States Congress"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Caucuses of the United States Congress</font></a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Republican_Party_%28United_States%29_organizations" title="Category:Republican Party (United States) organizations"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Republican Party (United States) organizations</font></a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:1973_establishments_in_Washington,_D.C." title="Category:1973 establishments in Washington, D.C."><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">1973 establishments in Washington, D.C.</font></a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Organizations_established_in_1973" title="Category:Organizations established in 1973"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Organizations established in 1973</font></a></li>
</ul><div>endit1</div>
</div>
</div>