Heritage Author’s Resignation not Enough for Hispanic Caucus

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus called on the Heritage Foundation Friday to renounce the writings of Jason Richwine, a former Heritage employee and one of the authors of the group’s recent immigration report.

Richwine resigned this week amid a scandal over a doctoral thesis that suggested Latinos and other immigrants were not as smart as white Americans, according to news reports. Full story

Ryan Critical of Heritage Immigration Study

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan was critical of The Heritage Foundation study predicting a heavy cost to the taxpayer if Congress approves an immigration overhaul that includes a path to citizenship.

In a statement provided to CQ Roll Call, the Wisconsin Republican had this to say about the Heritage report that the Senate bill’s “amnesty” component would cost taxpayers $6.3 trillion over several decades: “The Congressional Budget Office has found that fixing our broken immigration system could help our economy grow. A proper accounting of immigration reform should take into account these dynamic effects.”

Heritage defended its study during its unveiling Monday, saying its methodology adheres to that recommended by the National Academy of Sciences.

Paul Ryan Supports Gay Adoption, But Not Marriage

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Former GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., now supports the rights of gay Americans to adopt children, though he still believes marriage “is between a man and a woman.”

In a town hall meeting with constituents in Wisconsin on Monday, the House Budget Committee chairman said he has changed his mind on the adoption issue, even though his opinions on other aspects of gay rights have remained unchanged. To date, two Republican senators — Rob Portman of Ohio, who had been in the mix for Mitt Romney’s No. 2 spot, and Mark S. Kirk of Illinois — have come out in support of gay marriage.

“Adoption, I’d vote differently these days. That was I think a vote I took in my first term, 1999 or 2000. I do believe that if there are children who are orphans who do not have a loving person or couple, I think if a person wants to love and raise a child they ought to be able to do that. Period,” Ryan said in a video posted by the liberal website Think Progress. “I would vote that way. I do believe marriage is between a man and a woman, we just respectfully disagree on that issue.” Full story

Ryan’s Speech to Anti-Abortion Group Offers 2016 Clues

(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan addressed an anti-abortion group Thursday evening.

No surprise there. Republican leaders regularly speak to organizations such as Susan B. Anthony List, which enlisted Ryan as its featured speaker for its annual Washington, D.C., gala. And, Ryan is a devout Roman Catholic and is against abortion, so it makes even more sense that he would lend his political star power to the Susan B. Anthony List on the evening it chose to honor “young pro-life women leaders.”

But 2016 presidential watchers take note: Ryan had never before spoken to Susan B. Anthony List, an aide confirmed. The title of the congressman’s speech, according to a transcript provided by his office: Building a Coalition for Life. “Here’s my thinking: We need to articulate a vision — one that can attract a broad coalition,” Ryan said in one passage of his address. “To advance the pro-life cause, we need to work with people who consider themselves pro-choice — because our task isn’t to purge our ranks. It’s to grow them.” Full story

Boehner Violates Hastert Rule Again

The House approved a bill Tuesday without the support of a majority of the Republican Conference, about one month after Speaker John A. Boehner sought to assure his conference that he intended to observe the “Hastert rule.”

The bill, which expands the government’s ability to buy land to protect historical battlefields at a projected cost of $50 million, passed under suspension of the rules, 283-122, with 101 Republicans supporting the bill and 122 voting against it. The Hastert rule, named for former Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., calls for GOP leadership to only allow bills to pass that have secured “a majority of the majority” of the House Republican conference.

Dan Holler, a spokesman for Heritage Action for America, which issued a “key vote” against the bill, said, “Americans of all political stripes agree something has to change, and that Republicans can lead that change if they are willing to reject status quo in Washington. Violating the Hastert Rule to pass $46 million in battlefield pork won’t get the job done, though,” he said. “Last night’s vote was a missed opportunity.”

Although the top members of House GOP leadership voted for the bill, including Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, several of the lower tier members of leadership, including Oregon Rep. Greg Walden, the National Republican Congressional Committee chairman, and Oklahoma Rep. James Lankford, the Policy Committee chairman, voted “no.”

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Can the Badger State Brat Pack Save the GOP?

From left: Priebus, Walker and Ryan all have prominent roles on the national GOP stage as the party plots a way forward.

Over on Roll Call’s homepage, I’ve posted a story on three Republicans from Southeast Wisconsin who are poised to wield enormous influence over the GOP during a critical period for the party.

House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan, despite losing his bid for vice president last year, remains a key figure in GOP political and policy circles, and his leadership on fiscal matters could define what voters think of the party — and the candidates it fields up and down the ballot in 2014 and 2016.

Gov. Scott Walker rose to prominence nationally over the past few years as he implemented fiscal reforms in Wisconsin that curtailed the power of organized labor, which Republicans believe has been a drag on economic growth and states’ budget everywhere. Republicans in Washington and in the states have long sought to implement the reforms Walker achieved, but mostly failed. Whether the governor wins a second term next year could determine how lasting his policies are.

Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, is pushing ahead with the biggest overhaul of party apparatus in at least a generation, if not ever. After getting crushed by President Barack Obama’s data and field operations in last year’s presidential election, Priebus has taken it upon himself to put the party on better footing in next year’s midterm contests and the 2016 White House race. Whether he succeeds or fails could impact the GOP at the ballot box for years to come.

Oh, and there’s this thing about who might run for president.

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Breaking Down the 10 GOP ‘No’ Votes on the Ryan Budget

Forbes was one of 10 Republicans who voted against the Ryan budget on Thursday. He said it didn’t do enough to undo the sequester cuts that are hitting his military-rich district. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

We explained earlier this week why most conservatives would vote for the Ryan budget despite their complaints that it largely obtained balance in a relatively brief 10 years by including past tax increases.

That proved true Thursday, when only 10 Republicans voted “no” on the plan and decided against joining their party on one of its most unified votes. Here’s why they voted against House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan’s blueprint.

Six of the 10 said the Wisconsin Republican’s budget didn’t cut spending fast enough, while four said it cut spending too steeply or in the wrong areas.

Reps. Justin Amash of Michigan, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Walter B. Jones of North Carolina — all “no” votes — are in the same ideological camp of libertarian-leaning Republicans urging far bolder spending cuts. Amash and Jones, who were thrown off their plum committee assignments in December, have become almost automatic “no” votes on spending bills that come out of the House. Massie has quickly joined their ranks.

Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas said in a statement that he voted against the budget because he wants “permanent spending controls,” not a “non-binding resolution” that can be “changed with each new Congress.” Full story

RSC Members Vote Against Own Budget

House Democrats tried an old legislative trick intended to embarrass Republicans but fell short when the GOP defeated the upstart Republican Study Committee budget on Wednesday.

Democrats voted “present” on the measure, meaning Republicans had to supply all the votes to either pass or defeat the RSC budget. The bill failed on a 104-132 vote, with 171 members voting present.

Still, Democrats succeeded in one respect: They forced Republicans to vote down their colleagues’ bill. In fact, 61 members of the RSC voted against the budget produced by the group, whose authors boast that it would balance the budget within five years. Some of those included House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, GOP Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin and Chief Deputy Majority Whip Peter Roskam of Illinois. Full story

Why Most Conservatives Will Vote for the Ryan Budget, Despite Complaints

Salmon plans to vote for the Ryan budget plan. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call)

The budget blueprint offered by House Republicans last year would have balanced the budget in what seemed like a million years (actually, it was 27). This year’s plan offered by Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., balances in only 10. It also repeals Obamacare and institutes Medicare changes sought by Republican deficit hawks.

And yet, there is angst on the right about this budget.

“This year’s budget actually spends more money” than last year’s budget, wrote Daniel Horowitz at RedState.com, “while all of the balance is achieved through $3.233 trillion in new revenues.”

Those new revenues include tax increases agreed to as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations as well as tax increases that were part of Obamacare. That has led to some anger on the right, including from ForAmerica Chairman Brent Bozell, who said, “The only thing the Ryan budget makes clear is that Paul Ryan spent too much time campaigning with Mitt Romney.”

Among House conservatives, however, the complaints have been muted. Lawmakers who are concerned about the tax increases in the budget are planning on voting for it anyway. Full story

Perilous Debt Ceiling Debate Looms for House GOP

Boehner, right, is a target of some members of his own conference. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Never mind the continuing resolution and Rep. Paul D. Ryan’s new budget. House Republicans could face an explosive intraparty showdown over the debt ceiling, CQ Roll Call’s Jonathan Strong reported Wednesday.

Despite muted grumbling by some conservatives over the past few years that the House Budget chairman’s proposals haven’t been aggressive enough, leaders have not had much trouble rounding up 218 GOP votes to pass the budget blueprints. And with the Wisconsin Republican now proposing a fiscal 2014 plan to balance the budget in 10 years, the House majority is likely to be even more unified around the bill.

But the debt ceiling is another matter.

Full story

Ryan Budget: The Official Talking Points

House Republicans are only now beginning to take a deeper look at Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan’s fiscal 2014 budget plan. A committee markup to fill in the details is scheduled to begin Wednesday.

In the interim, here are the “talking points” House Budget Committee Republicans have armed their GOP colleagues with:

Full story

Ryan’s Budget: ‘Means to an End’ Not ‘Root Canal Economics’

(Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call)

When you hear congressional Republicans insist over the next few months that the American people agree with their budget priorities, keep this in mind: They know better.

House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan introduced his committee’s fiscal 2014 spending plan Tuesday and amid all the focus on the fact it would balance Washington’s books in 10 years, in part by repealing the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare), I was struck by a phrase the Wisconsin Republican repeated several times in his morning news conference: “means to an end.”

There is little difference between Ryan’s 2014 budget and the two previous proposals offered by the House GOP majority. But politically, the emphasis and messaging have been altered significantly. This new blueprint might appear to be about balanced budgets, tax reform and overhauling Medicare. In fact, many House Republicans will still focus on these items — it’s why they came to Congress. But what does Ryan want Americans to think about his budget? That it will make their lives better.

“We want people to know that this isn’t simply an accounting exercise, that this is an exercise in making a better country, and helping people who are in need, in getting a growing economy that produces more opportunity and upward mobility,” Ryan told CQ Roll Call after he unveiled his budget. “That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing. It’s not an accounting exercise; it’s not root canal economics, it’s pro-growth economics that gets people the kind of opportunity that they’ve always known about in America growing up.

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Interview With Speaker Boehner: The Sequester Is Here to Stay (Part II)

Boehner acknowledged he likes a glass of Merlot from time to time, but he wouldn’t elaborate. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

In part two of Speaker John A. Boehner’s question-and-answer exchange with CQ Roll Call, the Ohio Republican dishes on hot-button issues such as the sequester — he suggests it’s probably here to stay — immigration changes, gun control and the fiscal 2014 budget.

But we also discussed the public’s perception of the ambitious, impatient House Republican majority that he leads and how he feels about a conservative activist community that expects much and criticizes nearly every concession the Ohioan makes to the reality that House Republicans alone do not control all levers of the federal government.

During parts one and two of our Q&A with Boehner, he was reasonably more candid given our focus on the myriad problems the Republican Party faces today and what he can do to help fix them. But in response to our final question of part two — one of a slightly personal nature, the speaker obfuscated.

Read all the way through and check it out for yourself.

CQ Roll Call: Has it been a challenge to battle President Barack Obama on the sequester when your conference was divided between those who think it’s fine and those who are concerned that it will have a negative effect on national security and military readiness? Have you concluded that the sequester is here to stay?

Full story