Reps. James Lankford, Cory Gardner (above), Kristi Noem, Patrick Meehan and Tom Reed are confounding the stereotype of the House Republican freshman class. Each has made a mark on the 112th Congress, some by becoming leadership favorites.
His demeanor impressed GOP leadership: Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (Calif.) handpicked Lankford to head a subcommittee, and Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) placed him on the transportation conference committee, where he was a go-to GOP messenger.
The Pennsylvanian has staked out a name as one of the chamber’s top freshman moderates. The former U.S. attorney and one-time district attorney said he spurns contentious bills in favor of legislation he thinks can pass the Senate as well.
“I get frustrated because I think that we sometimes put ourselves into positions where we know what the end result is going to be, that it’s simply going to go to the other side and die,” he said.
He convinced leadership to bring two of his bipartisan bills to the floor, one to prevent counterfeit drug production and another, coming from the Homeland Security subcommittee he is chairman of, to increase intelligence sharing on weapons of mass destruction.
He has also encouraged leadership to make a big, balanced deficit reduction deal and was one of the few votes for the Bowles-Simpson budget on the House floor.
Still, he received an early endorsement from his peers and leaders with a slot on the Republican Steering Committee.
A former statewide political operative, Meehan is also a formidable fundraiser.
Reed started on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, but on the advice of his mentor, former Rep. Amo Houghton (R-N.Y.), he sought a slot on Ways and Means.
That he was placed on the powerful committee shows the trust leadership has in him, and aides say he has proved himself to be a go-getter with passion for the panel’s work.
It is no surprise, then, that he asked for and received a slot on the payroll tax conference committee and helped lead a push by Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) for miscellaneous tariff benefits.
Reed has had some success in the appropriations process by seeking out bipartisan amendments, not messaging riders. “The bottom line is that’s not what I’m here for,” Reed said. “There are some Members who come here and they want to have their five minutes in the press, their five minutes of glory, so to speak. I came here to do something.”
He said he learned that philosophy as the former mayor of Corning, N.Y.
“Being mayor of a small town, you’ve got to work together. You’re all residents of a small community, and that’s how I look at it down here.”
A man from Kentucky attends a Tea Party Patriots rally on the West Front of the Capitol to protest the IRS' targeting of conservative political groups.
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