A group of freshmen GOP members of Congress swept into office with Tea Party support stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Thursday pledging to vote for Speaker of the House John Boehner’s debt-ceiling bill — and encourage the others in their class to do so.
“Is this as big as we wanted to go? Heck no,” said Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy, who was elected in 2010. “We wanted to go bigger. We ran on going bigger. But this is the only proposal on the table that accomplishes the goals we set out to do.” (RELATED: House prepares to vote on Boehner plan)
Michael Shear of The New York Times wrote that, “When it comes to politics, there may be no more closely watched group on Thursday than the 87 House Republicans who were elected to Congress for the first time in 2010.”
That report also notes that “many of them are poised to cast a vote that may not sit well at home and could invite the same kind of voter anger in 2012 — this time directed at them. With several freshmen already bracing for primaries back home, the vote could even prompt a new wave of sweep-them-out sentiment.”
Another freshman, Rep. Nan Hayworth of New York, said “this is about jobs, this is about opportunity, this is about the dignity of being able to make your own way without struggling under the burden of a federal government that has over the decades accumulated obligations and acquired a habit of spending we cannot possibly afford.”
One Republican congressman got a few laughs when speaking about Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s performance during the debt negotiations.
“If Mr. Reid wants to really talk about this,” Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania said, “then maybe ‘Profiles in Cowardice’ is the book that would’ve been written about what he’s done the last several weeks.”