Explaining the role of the Republican Study Committee

There may or may not be a civil war within the conservative Republican Study Committee, Politco seems to be implying, the former, but Heritage Foundation president Edwin J. Feulner, who was the RSC's first full-time executive director, adds some perspective to the discussion in an op-ed for the Daily Caller. "Since its founding," he writes, "the RSC has never relished bucking party leadership, but it has never shied away from it either."

Over the last 40 years, the RSC has fought many policy battles. Sometimes it worked alongside Republican leaders — to pass the Kemp-Roth tax cuts in the 1980s and welfare reform in the 1990s, for example. On other issues — such as the 1990 Andrews Air Force Base tax hike deal and the Medicare Part D battle of 2003 — the group has bucked party leadership.

These disagreements don't portend irreconcilable differences between conservatives and the Republican leadership. Conservatives recognize our objectives can only be achieved through the traditional political process. But these stories highlight the important distinction between a belief in conservative principles and membership in the Republican caucus.

Those of us who founded the RSC always insisted that disagreements be focused on policy; they should never be made personal. We also strongly subscribed to Ronald Reagan’s dictum that "the person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and ally — not a 20 percent traitor."

Compromise is necessary and proper in Washington, D.C. — but it is not the role of the RSC to facilitate it. And it is not the best place for every member. Those members who feel the RSC assists them in fulfilling the mission that brought them to Washington should join the RSC; others should not feel pressure to join. They might even choose to join the Republican Main Street Partnership, or the liberal side. And, of course the Democrats have their own counterpart groups.

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