House Republicans have a grade for conservative interest groups that apply a litmus test to their every action: F.
The outside groups have become more aggressive and punitive in recent years, and the criteria they use to rate Republicans? purity are constantly shifting, sometimes within hours or days on the same topic. That?s inspired a fiery backlash from folks who suddenly find themselves branded apostates by organizations they once saw as allies.
Continue ReadingHeritage Action for America ? the fresh-faced activist attach? of the esteemed Heritage Foundation ? is now issuing bad grades when members of Congress fail to co-sponsor a favored bill or don?t sign onto a letter advocating for policies backed by the organization. Those are new standards for lawmakers who are accustomed to being only graded on their actual votes
?I think it?s awful and I think it?s disgusting and I think it?s an example of Republicans eating Republicans,? Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio), a member of the centrist Tuesday Group, said.
The Heritage Foundation is concerned enough about its standing on the Hill that its president, Ed Feulner, sent a survey to congressional aides Wednesday asking, ?what do you think of the Heritage Foundation??
Grover Norquist, longtime president of the Americans for Tax Reform, has had a handful of Republicans turn against him of late. Several of them feel that Norquist?s famously rigid anti-tax oath has hamstrung Congress by taking options off the table for legislators who fear he will target them if they break what?s known as ?Grover?s pledge.? Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), who never signed the pledge, castigated Norquist in a recent floor speech, saying he was ?out of the mainstream.?
And the fiscally focused Club for Growth, derided by moderates as the ?Club for Democratic Growth,? continues to get under the skin of Republicans who believe their party is best served by nominating centrists in swing districts and states by funding the most fiscally conservative contestants in GOP primaries.
For many lawmakers, it?s a case of feeling menaced by elements of the same movement that helped fuel their takeover of the House last year.
Republicans of all stripes love to boast about the support of influential activist groups when they?re on the campaign trail. They brandish endorsements, scores and awards as they scrounge for votes. Not so long ago, the scorecards served mostly to give voters a sense of who shared their worldview and who didn?t. But the new grading culture, designed to put pressure on lawmakers to observe orthodoxy, has created a sense of paralysis for many members of Congress. The threat of political retribution, carried explicitly and implicitly in grass-roots ?action alerts? and scorecards, is injected into every imaginable act.
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