New Republican Lawmakers Forced to Declare Loyalties Before Joining Congress - Fox News

WASHINGTON -- The midterm election may be over, but the in-fighting that dominated debate about the differences between Tea Party conservatives and establishment Republicans flared again Sunday as incoming lawmakers arrived in Washington for orientation.

Republican lawmakers-elect began entering town Sunday morning for courses meant to ease their transition from private citizen to public official. They are expected to attend GOP-hosted classes at the Capitol Hill Club designed to go over issues like ethics, House rules, blackberry usage and the bell-ringing system to call House votes, among other mundane functions.

House Republican Leader John Boehner, the presumptive speaker of the next House, welcomed newly elected congressional members with a letter commending them for the initiative to meet ahead of the lame-duck session that will pull the current Congress back to town this week.

"Your class colleagues will be a great source of support, inspiration and friendship in the months ahead as the new majority gets to work on the priorities of the American people," Boehner wrote. "I look forward to the honor of serving with you in the 112th Congress as we begin a new drive for smaller, less costly, more accountable government in Washington. See you Sunday night." 

But in the midst of their arrival, the new class found itself smack in the middle of a series of hostile exchanges by sponsors of other overlapping events, and the incoming group of 60 Republicans is unexpectedly finding its loyalties questioned by other influential parties. 

The Tea Party Patriots, which has the backing of FreedomWorks, the Leadership Institute and other organizations that helped bankroll and campaign for up-and-coming Tea Party candidates, late last week accused GOP leadership and its sponsor, the conservative Claremont Institute, of holding the Capitol Hill Club function to indoctrinate new members into Washington's unhealthy habits. 

TPP then inflamed lawmakers by publishing personal information of the new class. That came about after the TPP, which states it wants to prevent its revolutionaries from being co-opted by establishment Washington, wrote its membership urging them to contact the newly elected members and complain that the Tea Partiers were being manhandled by Beltway insiders. 

"We need you to call & e-mail these incoming Congressmen & tell them you want them to attend YOUR Tea Party Patriots event," reads the e-mail notice to TPP members. "Or would you rather they attend an indoctrination organized by DC insiders and lobbyists, members of The Ruling Class?"

That move angered Rep.-elect Bill Flores, who beat Chet Edwards for the Texas House seat. Flores called the Tea Party Patriots "disruptive" and said he was going to the Capitol Hill Club because it was important to meet fellow freshmen.

"The TPP's tactics were inappropriate -- the posting of our private cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses along with the trashing of the Claremont Foundation's reputation were not professional actions and they were disruptive to our individual efforts to have effective transitions into our elected offices," he said.

But the action also apparently alarmed sponsors of a "Constitutional Congress," hosted by three current lawmakers, retiring Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona and Sens. Tim Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of  South Carolina. They reportedly had planned their event as part of the Tea Party Patriots event, but separated themselves after learning of the conflict. 

To avoid the mess, some new members said they would try to hit all three events. That started when a group of freshmen turned up at the Constitutional Congress to hear Shadegg, a member of the class of 1994, discuss the mistakes those GOP revolutionaries made.

Waves of freshmen, including Reps.-elect Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Tom Graves of Georgia, Billy Long of Missouri and Marlin Stutzman and Todd Young of Indiana, also heard from DeMint, who urged the group to be more than "rhetorical gadflies" and to put their principles into legislation.

"We've got overlapping events, we have got a lot of demands on our time. I'm going to try to be at as much of everything as I can," said Rep.-elect Bill Johnson, R-Ohio., one of the first new lawmakers to arrive in town.

Rep.-elect David Schweikert of Arizona added that none of the organizers need to worry about the new class going astray from its fundamentals because the freshmen are "firebreathers" who are just trying to divvy up their time to be most effective.

"On some evenings there are four or five activities all going on at once. And you're doing your best to choose what fits what you need to learn," he said.

Schweikert, who has offered to abide by term limits and said he doesn't plan on doing the "cocktail game," added that none of the freshmen came to Washington with any interest in making friends with lobbyists. 

"One of the fun things, and my wife keeps commenting on this, is how many new best friends we've had since Election Day," Schweikert said. 

Rep.-elect Tim Walberg, R-Mich., one of several past members who lost their seat and then won re-election this year, said he's not going to attend any of the gatherings because he's technically not a freshman. 

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

As if office politics weren't enough to unsettle the recently elected, they soon could potentially witness the Republican Party go through another upheaval as Republican National Committeeman Saul Anuzis tries to unseat Michael Steele as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Anuzis, who made the announcement on Friday, released an e-mail on Sunday saying his decision to run against Steele -- as he did unsuccessfully in 2009 -- isn't about "firing someone, it's about hiring a new chairman to run the party under very different circumstances."

"I believe now, more than ever, we need a 'nuts and bolts' kind of chairman who will make sure the trains run on time and can raise the money necessary" to implement the best get-out-the-vote programs nationwide.

While several Republicans have suggested Steele be put out to pasture for gaffes and questionable financial decisions, the chairman has said GOP turnover this election and his work on the campaign trail make him worthy of another two-year term.

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GOP lawmakers take tough stand on Bush tax cuts - The Associated Press

GOP lawmakers take tough stand on Bush tax cuts(AP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fresh off big victories on Election Day, Republicans in Congress feel empowered in their fight to extend tax cuts that expire in January, including those for the wealthy.

President Barack Obama has said he wants to compromise with Republicans to ensure that tax cuts for middle-income families continue, suggesting he's open to extending all the tax breaks for a year or two. Republican leaders say it's a nice gesture by the president, but some key GOP lawmakers want more.

"It should be permanent," said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. "We've got to get this economy to pick up and if you raise taxes you're going to stifle the economy significantly. I'm sure that somebody's explained that to the president."

Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, who's in line to be the next House speaker in January, also played down talk of a compromise.

"I think that extending all of the current tax rates and making them permanent will reduce the uncertainty in America and help small businesses to create jobs again," Boehner said. "You can't invest when you don't know what the rules are."

Democrats will have majorities in both the House and Senate when Congress returns this week for a lame-duck session that is expected to stretch into December. They will need Republican support to get the 60 votes necessary to pass a tax bill in the Senate.

Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress want to make the tax cuts permanent for lower- and middle-income families, while letting them expire for individuals making more than $200,000 a year and married couples making more than $250,000. Republicans want to make the tax cuts permanent for everyone.

Many congressional aides, both Republican and Democrat, think lawmakers will settle on a temporary extension of all the tax rates, perhaps for a year or two. While some Democrats have supported the idea, interviews with lawmakers and aides from both parties suggest that compromise won't be easy.

Republicans are itching for a tax fight. They believe voters punished Democrats for increasing the size of government, and are looking forward to next year when the GOP will control the House and have more seats in the Senate.

Democrats must balance the interests of liberals who are dead set against extending tax cuts for the wealthy — even for a short time — with the more conservative in their ranks who don't want to raise taxes on anyone in a bad economy.

Clouding the issue is whether Democrats who lost at the polls will have the stomach for one last knockdown debate before they leave office.

An impasse would mean all the cuts could expire in January, at least temporarily, resulting in significant tax increases for families at every income level.

The tax cuts enacted under the Bush administration in 2001 and 2003 reduced marginal income tax rates at every level. They also provided a wide range of income tax breaks for education, families with children and married couples.

Taxes on capital gains and dividends were reduced, while the federal estate tax was gradually repealed, though only for 2010.

Obama's plan to make the lower- and middle-income tax cuts permanent would add a little more than $3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to congressional estimates. Extending tax cuts for the wealthy would add $700 billion more.

The sticker shock of adding nearly $4 trillion to the national debt has some Democrats wary of making any of the tax cuts permanent, especially after Obama's deficit commission issued a report last week outlining painful spending and tax proposals to rein in the government's finances.

Republicans are less concerned about adding to the debt through tax cuts, despite criticizing deficit spending.

Lawmakers will try to start laying the groundwork for a deal in private party caucuses this week, and at a White House meeting Thursday that Obama is hosting for leaders. Action in the House and Senate probably won't happen until after Thanksgiving.

Obama said Friday in South Korea that his goal remains extending the middle-class tax cuts and that the nation cannot afford the cuts for the wealthy. "My hope is, is that somewhere in between there we can find some sort of solution," he said.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is pushing a plan that would make the middle-income tax cuts permanent while extending those for the wealthy for just a few years.

The idea, however, is falling flat among Republicans who don't want to lose their leverage on extending all the tax cuts.

"That's a tax increase plain and simple that would be used to fund more Washington spending and would discourage private-sector job growth," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

Hatch and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have said they would agree to a temporary extension of all the tax cuts. Hatch would like to extend them beyond the next presidential election in 2012.

"We would welcome the president's help to extend all the current tax rates so that no one sees a tax hike." McConnell said. "There is no reason we can't work together to prevent equally a tax hike on families and small businesses."

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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