Looking in on the congressional lunch table from outside the beltway can be confusing. There’s drama in each party as warring factions compete for influence on Capitol Hill’s campus.
But more than the usual contentious and pretentious contests, the race to control the Republican Study Committee has significant influence. Whoever sits at the helm of the RSC, the largest conservative caucus in Congress, will sway the direction of the 115th Congress.
Two candidates, an upperclassman and a freshman, are vying for the job. Rep. Andy Harris, a skilled physician and a hard-nosed Maryland conservative, is competing with Rep. Mark Walker, a soft-spoken Baptist minister from North Carolina. One of the two will win the spot after voters are counted this Thursday.
The next chairman will enjoy significant clout. The job comes with a direct line to House Speaker Ryan. The ear of Vice President-elect Mike Pence could be another perk. Before leaving Congress to become governor of Indiana, Pence served as RSC chairman for two years during the second term of the Bush administration.
Competing for that spot, Harris and Walker have been hawking their conservative credentials to the 176 RSC members. But there’s not much to squabble about when it comes to policy differences. It’s their specialties and legislative strategies that differ.
The Maryland doctor’s prescription for the RSC is predictable. While Republicans are scrambling to find an Obamacare replacement, Harris tells the Washington Examiner that the plan he helped the RSC develop “is on the shelf and ready to go.”
“We have a market-based replacement system that will lower cost and expand access,” Harris insists. “That could be the starting point for negotiations this spring.”
Rather than focusing just on policy, Walker wants the caucus to become a more aggressive messenger. The Baptist minister wants the RSC members to develop retail politics on a micro level in each of their districts.
“It’s not just enough to lay the policy on the table and walk away,” Walker told the Washington Examiner. “RSC needs to be the conduit for how we share that message in our communities.”
Thanks to President-elect Trump, Republicans can legislate for two years without the hassle of divided government. And a GOP conference that was once frantic to distance itself from the New York businessman is now frantically trying to cozy up to the incoming executive.
But while both candidates claim they’ll tow the conservative line, in an early test case, Harris has shown a willingness to defer to the new administration on spending measures.
After an Election Day upset, current RSC Chairman Bill Flores, R-Texas, proposed a continuing resolution that would put spending on autopilot until Trump takes office in January. But Majority Leader McConnell and House Speaker Ryan are already planning on a version of a massive omnibus package to “clear the decks” for the coming administration.
That spending battle will be the last significant legislative fight in the 114th Congress and Harris is waffling. He supports Flores but says it’s conditional. “Clearly if the Trump administration said they’d prefer not to deal with [spending negotiations] during the first 100 days, then I might change my mind.”
A more cantankerous Walker insists that Republicans should oppose any omnibus package. “We’re well within our right to take Flores’ continuing resolution,” he said. “And this won’t be the first time or the last time we take a different approach than McConnell on spending.”
Ultimately, their competing visions of the next Congress distinguish the two.
A member of the House Freedom Caucus, Harris ironically wants to make that faction obsolete. If the RSC takes a lurch to the right under his leadership, Harris hopes “that within two years there’s no need for HFC.”
Walker dismissed that shift as an impossibility and part of “a multi-year negotiation process.” Under his leadership, he promised the RSC would “remain the conservative caucus regardless of what the other groups are planning.”
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
