My friend, Vassar Bushmills, just posted a column, Now we are 162. We encourage you to read it all. He explains the story that the media misses. Here is an excerpt.
While representing only 40% of the Republicans in the Senate, the significance of those first 19 in the Senate, which we reported on then, has become reality, for in the debt ceiling surrender this weekend, they were joined by a full 62% of the Republicans in the House of Representatives.
But today, Rejoice Dear Hearts! for this was a victory for conservatism. This is the story the media missed, and will continue to miss as long as any other story they can concoct, e.g., the Immigration debate, can be placed center-stage, or if Putin wins a second Person-of-the-Year award at Time Magazine in December.
The real news is that conservatives control 59% of the entire GOP in Congress, and while there will be some ebb and flow in that number in coming weeks and months, it will be likely to grow without any help from us, thanks to both Obama and Obamacare. He is, after all, incompetent. He can’t help it.
So, the real story is what those 144 Republicans are going to do in coming weeks, not what John Boehner is going to do in coming weeks. The real story is whether they will even let John Boehner keep his job. Or at what price? The real story is, once this fact sinks in, how many of the 87 who crossed over to vote with Democrats on the McConnell-Reid knee-pads-across the aisle compromise, will cross over a second time? Since most aren’t RINOs, just followers of the herd, they will follow power as it slips from one wing of the party to the other.
The real Republican leader in the Senate is Ted Cruz instead of Mitch McConnell, and the real leader in the House is Louie Gohmert instead of John Boehner. The argument they made and won is that the voters have a voice and should be listened to all of the time instead of only on election day. This argument won over the counter argument that since Obama got reelected we have to just sit down, shut up, and vote with Reid and Pelosi until after the results in the next election.
Listed below are the 18 Senators and 144 House members who voted No to a continuing resolution/debt ceiling increase bill with no conditions. It’s important to accentuate these 162 Republicans instead of the 114 Republicans who voted with Reid and Pelosi. We should call, write, or e-mail a thank you to these 162 for keeping the promise they made to the voters in the campaign.
THE ROLL CALL of the 162
Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions Sen. Richard Shelby AL 2nd Martha Roby AL 3rd Mike Rogers AL 4th Robert Aderholt AL 5th Mo Brooks Arizona AZ 4th Paul Gosar AZ 5th Matt Salmon AZ 6th David Schweikert AZ 8th Trent Franks California CA 1st Doug LaMalfa CA 4th Tom McClintock CA 10th Jeff Denham CA 39th Ed Royce CA 45th John Campbell CA 48th Dana Rohrabacher CA 50th Duncan Hunter Colorado CO 5th Doug Lamborn Florida Sen. Marco Rubio FL 1st Jeff Miller FL 2nd Steve Southerland FL 3rd Ted Yoho FL 6th Ron DeSantis FL 7th John Mica FL 8th Bill Posey FL 11th Richard Nugent FL 15th Dennis Ross FL 17th Thomas Rooney FL 19th Trey Radel Georgia GA 1st Jack Kingston GA 3rd Lynn Westmoreland GA 6th Tom Price GA 7th Rob Woodall GA 8th Austin Scott GA 9th Doug Collins GA 10th Paul Broun GA 11th Phil Gingrey GA 14th Tom Graves Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley IA 4th Steve King Idaho Sen. Michael Crapo Sen. James Risch ID 1st Raúl Labrador Illinois IL 14th Randy Hultgren Indiana IN 2nd Jackie Walorski IN 3rd Marlin Stutzman IN 4th Todd Rokita IN 6th Luke Messer IN 8th Larry Bucshon Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts KS 1st Tim Huelskamp KS 3rd Kevin Yoder KS 4th Mike Pompeo Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul KY 4th Thomas Massie KY 6th Andy Barr Louisiana Sen. David Vitter LA 1st Steve Scalise LA 4th John Fleming LA 6th Bill Cassidy Maryland MD 1st Andy Harris Michigan MI 2nd Bill Huizenga MI 3rd Justin Amash MI 7th Tim Walberg MI 10th Candice Miller MI 11th Kerry Bentivolio Minnesota MN 6th Michele Bachmann Missouri MO 2nd Ann Wagner MO 3rd Blaine Luetkemeyer MO 4th Vicky Hartzler MO 6th Sam Graves MO 7th Billy Long MO 8th Jason Smith Mississippi MS 1st Alan Nunnelee MS 4th Steven Palazzo North Carolina NC 2nd Renee Ellmers NC 3rd Walter Jones NC 5th Virginia Foxx NC 8th Richard Hudson NC 11th Mark Meadows NC 13th George Holding New Jersey NJ 5th Scott Garrett New Mexico NM 2nd Steve Pearce Nevada Sen. Dean Heller NV 2nd Mark Amodei New York NY 23rd Tom Reed NY 27th Chris Collins Ohio OH 1st Steve Chabot OH 2nd Brad Wenstrup OH 4th Jim Jordan OH 5th Robert Latta OH 6th Bill Johnson OH 7th Bob Gibbs OH 10th Michael Turner OH 16th James Renacci Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn OK 1st Jim Bridenstine OK 2nd Markwayne Mullin OK 3rd Frank Lucas OK 5th James Lankford Oregon OR 2nd Greg Walden Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey PA 4th Scott Perry PA 10th Tom Marino PA 12th Keith Rothfus PA 16th Joseph Pitts South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott SC 1st Mark Sanford SC 2nd Joe Wilson SC 3rd Jeff Duncan SC 4th Trey Gowdy SC 5th Mick Mulvaney SC 7th Tom Rice South Dakota SD-at Large Kristi Noem Tennessee TN 1st Phil Roe TN 2nd John Duncan TN 3rd Chuck Fleischmann TN 4th Scott DesJarlais TN 6th Diane Black TN 7th Marsha Blackburn TN 8th Stephen Fincher Texas Sen. Ted cruz Sen. John Cornyn TX 1st Louie Gohmert TX 2nd Ted Poe TX 3rd Sam Johnson TX 4th Ralph Hall TX 5th Jeb Hensarling TX 6th Joe Barton TX 7th John Culberson TX 8th Kevin Brady TX 10th Michael McCaul TX 11th Michael Conaway TX 12th Kay Granger TX 13th Mac Thornberry TX 14th Randy Weber TX 17th Bill Flores TX 19th Randy Neugebauer TX 21st Lamar Smith TX 22nd Pete Olson TX 24th Kenny Marchant TX 25th Roger Williams TX 26th Michael Burgess TX 27th Blake Farenthold TX 31st John Carter TX 32nd Pete Sessions TX 36th Steve Stockman Utah Sen. Mike Lee UT 1st Rob Bishop UT 2nd Chris Stewart UT 3rd Jason Chaffetz Virginia VA 4th Randy Forbes VA 5th Robert Hurt VA 6th Bob Goodlatte VA 9th Morgan Griffith Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson WI 1st Paul Ryan WI 5th James Sensenbrenner WI 6th Tom Petri WI 7th Sean Duffy Wyoming Sen. Michael Enzi WY-at Large Cynthia Lummis