Rep. Jeb Hensarling will be nominated to head the Republican Study Committee next year, according to a letter sent Tuesday by eight of the most active RSC members.
Their endorsement of the second-term Texas Republican sets up a potentially nasty fight over the direction of the House’s most conservative faction. The four founders of the RSC — John T. Doolittle of California, Ernest Istook of Oklahoma, Dan Burton of Indiana and Sam Johnson of Texas — are expected to nominate their own candidate, appropriator Todd Tiahrt of Kansas, for the post.
The RSC founders’ pick has been honored in the past by the rank and file. But Tuesday’s letter signed by current RSC Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana, John Shadegg of Arizona and six other conservatives signals a willingness among some RSC members to continue using aggressive tactics in the pursuit of a more conservative legislative agenda.
Hensarling’s backers say he is “committed to advancing conservative principles of limited-government, traditional family values, a strong national defense and retaking the majority in 2008.”
In addition to Pence and Shadegg, the Hensarling endorsement letter was signed by Reps. Tom Feeney of Florida, Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, Kevin Brady of Texas, Jeff Flake of Arizona, J. Gresham Barrett of South Carolina and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.
This is an odd statement.
Some Republicans blame Pence and his allies in the RSC for election losses, pointing to their campaign to publicize spending increases during a period of Republican control of Congress. But many conservatives say the GOP’s loss of the House and Senate resulted from an abandonment of small-government principles.
Pence represents what is right with the GOP, anyone whose says otherwise is probably part of the problem.