By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Likely in anticipation of a national debt increasing compromise with President Barack H Obama’s administration on sequestration and the fiscal cliff, several sources are reporting that Republican Representatives who are strongly in favor of balancing the budget are being purged from their House Committees.
According to FreedomWorks, “So far, Reps. Amash, Huelskamp, and Schweikert have been removed from their respective committees for refusing to vote in lock step with the Republicans on endless spending. These members have been some of the most reliable votes for economic freedom and the Constitution, and they are now being punished for their loyalty to their Oath of Office.”
FreedomWorks says that Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R) from Kansas was removed from the House Budget Committee. Rep. Huelskamp has a 96% Lifetime Rating by FreedomWorks. Rep. Justin Amash (R) from Michigan was removed from the House Budget Committee. He has a 100% Lifetime Rating from FreedomWorks. Rep. David Schweikert (R) from Arizona was also removed from the House Financial Services Committee. Rep. Schweikert has a 96% Lifetime Rating from FreedomWorks.
Rep. Justin Amash said, “Rumor has it that I’ve been removed from the House Committee on the Budget. Remarkably, I still have not received a single call, e-mail, or text from Republican leadership confirming this story. In fact, I wouldn’t even have learned about it if not for the news reports. I look forward to hearing from my party’s leadership about why my principled, conservative voting record offends them. That’s sure to be a lively and entertaining conversation.”
President and CEO of FreedomWorks Matt Kibbe said, “The Republican leadership is tired of principled fiscal conservatives fighting against their big-government agenda, and this is just the first shot. We need to send a message to Boehner that we will not allow our most valued Congressmen to be purged for upholding their commitment to economic freedom and the Constitution.”
Rep. Amash said, “I can only speculate as to what specifically would make Republican leadership punish several of its party’s most principled members. Rep. Tim Huelskamp, who was kicked off of both Budget and the Committee on Agriculture, voted with me against the 2013 House budget resolution because it does not sufficiently address the federal government’s debt crisis. That was one of only three times during this Congress that I voted against the Chairman’s recommendations in committee. In fact, I voted with the Republican Chairman more than 95% of the time, and I have voted with my party’s leadership more than three-quarters of the time on the House floor.
What message does leadership’s heavy-handedness send? It says that independent thinking won’t be tolerated, not even 5% of the time. It says that voting your conscience won’t be respected.”
The House Budget Committee is chaired by former Republican nominee for Vice-President Paul Ryan from Wisconsin.
Sen. Sessions (R) from Alabama has been harshly critical of the secret budget negotiations and the plan being put forward by the Obama administration. Sen. Sessions said, “Overall, were this secret proposal enacted, it would produce approximately $9 trillion in new gross debt over 10 years. By 2016, yearly federal spending would eclipse $4 trillion, including a 30 percent increase in welfare costs. There is a reason why the White House strongly prefers to operate in secrecy. I am confident that if they made this secret proposal public, and in a form that could be scored by CBO, these facts would become clear and the ‘plan’ would be resoundingly rejected by the American people and their representatives in Congress.”
