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Idaho State Rep. Rod Furniss offered his fellow legislators a lesson in basic biology this week.

Boys and girls have two Ps: peeing and pooping, the Democrat from Ribgy said from the House floor on Monday as the co-sponsor of a bill to provide free menstrual products in public schools. We know that the proper role of government is to cover the two Ps. Well, surprise, we just figured out [in] 2023, that girls have three Ps: They have peeing and pooping, and period.

He proceeded with simple facts and common sense.

Now we can hold the first two Ps, peeing and pooping. We can take care of that. But the third P, the girls dont have a muscle down there. When that happens, it happens. Its an emergency every time that happens. Its a basic biological function. Is the proper role of government to cover a basic biological function? I submit to you that it is.

Among those who watched the proceedings online was Avrey Hendrix, a 35-year-old mother of four who had met with Furniss last spring as the founder of a nonprofit advocacy group called the Idaho Period Project. Hendrix lives in Furniss district. And a young woman on her organizations board has a friend in common with the legislators daughter.

We just kind of approached him and asked him if he would be interested, Hendrix later told The Daily Beast. And he said yes.

With Rep. Lori McCann as a co-sponsor, the simple one-page measure reached the House Education Committee last Thursday. Hendrix testified, citing a survey that found 75 percent of the girls in eighth grade and above had missed class and as much as a whole school day because menstrual products were not immediately available. She further noted the results of State of the Period 2021, a national study that found nearly a quarter of female students had difficulty affording menstrual items. She headed home to Rigby feeling the simple truth was on her side.

Knowledge is power, Hendrix later said.

House Bill 313 passed the committee and proceeded to the full House on Monday. Furniss seemed just a touch awkward while speaking about the three Ps, but Hendrix believed that his presence would make it clear that he was doing it only because he felt it was important.

I think he did do great, she later said. Even so, one of the female legislators took offense to a male presuming to champion this issue.

The P-word thats in my head right now is patronized, Rep. Julianne Young said.

Young, a Republican, put a conservative slant on her intimation that Furniss was being sexist.

As a woman, were capable of handling these things, she said. We look out for each other. I think its a stretch to say that we have to provide these products in order for women to be educated.

Young continued: Theres another P-word, and that P-word is parents. And if the schools get between the daughter and the parents, then there may be some important conversations that dont take place.

Hendrix, watching from home, noted to herselfand later to The Daily Beastthat not everybody has a reliable parent on hand for those important conversations.

Another female Republican legislator then sought to place a political label on the measure.

This bill is a very liberal policy, and its really turning Idaho into a bigger nanny state than ever, Rep. Heather Scott said. Its embarrassing not only because of the topic but because of the actual policy itself. So you dont have to be a woman to understand the absurdity of this policy. And you dont have to feel that youre insensitive to not address this.

Scott then took a classic far-right turn.

Whats gonna be next? Scott asked. Because, we have what? Toilet paper. We have paper towels. And the good gentleman says, Well, they cant help it, the women cant help having their periods.

Scott then proceeded into absurdity disguised as logic.

Well, what about sweat? she asked. We cant help but sweat. So are the schools now going to be providing deodorant for these kids?

Another female Republican, one-time basketball coach Rep. Barbara Ehardt, objected to the phraseology employed by some of those who voiced support for the bill. She cited in particular menstrual equity and period poverty.

These are woke terms, Ehardt said.

Hendrix immediately Googled the term woke. From what she could tell, it had something to do with racial justice.

Which is good for our world, she said.

But woke was not good for the bill. The final tally was a tie, 35 ayes and 35 nays. That meant HB 313 was dead.

Heartbreaking, Hendrix said.

To make it worse, 10 womenall Republicanshad voted against it.

Its so shocking because they know what its like to go into the bathroom and not have a tampon, Hendrix said.

She was left with a lesson that many of those who seek to do simple good are learning these days: that knowledge can lose its power in the face of willful ignorance.

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Idaho Republicans Deny Girls Free Tampons in School - The Daily Beast

Elliott Engen loves his job.

Engen, who is 24, took office in January in the Minnesota House of Representatives representing House district 36A, which includes Lino Lakes, Circle Pines, North Oaks, Centerville and White Bear Township in the northeast part of the metro area.

Its such a high learning curve, but every single day, you get to wake up and you get to help people, Engen said of his first month in office.

He took a step back from his job with an environmental conservation nonprofit to commit to legislating full-time, something he says he owes his constituency. Hes still figuring out the work-life balance like when to turn off the office lights and head home for dinner but hes steadily working towards the white picket fence life in Lino Lakes, Minn. with his wife Faith Engen and their dog, Finn.

What does that mean? The news, analysis and community conversation found here is funded by donations from individuals. Make a gift of any amount today to support this resource for everyone.

Engen is one of two Generation Z lawmakers stepping into the Minnesota Legislature this year. Engen is a Republican while the other, state Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, is a DFLer, making each the only legislator of their generation in their respective political parties in the state. Already, these young politicians are poised to shape the course of their parties.

The Pew Research Center defines Millennials as people born 1981 through 1996, and Gen Z after 1997 (an end year has yet to be defined).

These two generations will be a majority of potential voters by 2028, according to a report released last month from The Brookings Institution, which also noted that young voters overwhelmingly voted for Democratic congressional candidates in 2022, swinging elections in almost every battleground state.

Engen isnt fazed by that.

A lot of folks would characterize my generation as being more progressive in their leanings and that might be true, he told MPR News. But I do know that we dont always trust institutions that have quote-unquote power over us we dont always want helicopter parents.

We just want things to run smoothly, he adds. We want transparency, we want accountability. But we also want policies that care about people and we can do all of the above.

Engen sees an opportunity to change public perception of Republicans.

I think that we are compassionate. I don't think that conservatives are across the board heartless. Some of them for sure and some Democrats for sure. But I think overall we do want to do good by our constituents and for the state, but we havent been doing a good enough job of letting people know why it is what we believe. If we do that more, we can show people that we actually have a heart, Engen said.

As young people not only come of age but begin to start families and businesses, Engen wanted to get a head start on elevating their voices to find solutions to pressing issues.

Weve constantly heard politicians for forever say Were doing this for the next generation. Well, we are the next generation and maybe we should be at the table as well.

A few years ago, Engen was a passionate baseball player at Hamline University considering law school down the road. He said he got politically involved after feeling conversations on campus wouldnt lead to needed social change.

I just saw that percolating on campus was a sense of discourse that wasn't necessarily sustainable. In my eyes, it was a lot more of reciting the talking points of either Tucker Carlson or Rachel Maddow, just kind of the extremes talking at each other rather than talking with each other, Engen said.

So he founded a chapter of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA at Hamline where people with both liberal and conservative political beliefs would meet to debate ideas.

That he could bring affinity for discourse to the State Capitol did not occur to him until a chance encounter in December 2019 with Joe Mitchell, who at 21 became the youngest person in the Iowa Legislature in 2018.

Engen and his wife were in West Palm Beach, Fla. for the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit. They were discussing policy in a hot tub when Mitchell overheard and asked if he was a candidate or in office.

Engen recalls laughing at the idea. No way, he said he had responded. Im not older and don't have any individual wealth. So why would I be in office?

Mitchell said Engen asked him, Who's gonna vote for a 20 year old? And so I said, Well, you know, 6,800 people in Iowa's 84th district when I first ran when I was 20.

Engen said hearing about Mitchells success planted a seed.

Thats what got it into my mind that were not bound to be on the sidelines of politics until later in our lives, he said.

Engen quit his college baseball team to run for office, first in 2020, when he narrowly lost to the Democrat incumbent by 100 votes. He ran for state house again after redistricting and won in another tight race.

He said he is no longer affiliated with Turning Point USA, which has been criticized for targeting professors they identified as liberal and amplifying far-right extremists.

The orgs original stances aligned with my values of free markets, individualism and limited government. I no longer feel that those values are the identity of the organization, and therefore, I dont support it, he said. I have never, nor will ever, support extremism from the right. I aim to unify, not divide.

Mitchell started a nonprofit called Run GenZ in 2020 to recruit, empower and mentor young conservatives to run for office, ranging from school boards and city councils to state legislatures.

After their initial meeting, Mitchell said he was a resource for Engen throughout his campaigning, offering advice on messaging, developing an online presence and getting the party endorsement.

It's not rocket science, Mitchell said. It's pretty simple. It's about viability in that seat, making sure it's a viable seat to run in. Making sure that you can hold a conversation and that you can work hard and ask people for their vote at the doorstep.

Rep. Joe Mitchell, R-Wayland, center, takes the oath of office during the opening day of the Iowa Legislature on Jan. 14 at the Statehouse in Des Moines, Iowa.

Charlie Neibergall | AP Photo 2019

In 2022, Mitchell reported Run GenZ had a 78 percent win rate, with 37 of 47 candidates under 30 years old taking office. He said while the country did not see a huge red wave, he thinks their programs candidate quality and campaign training helped.

Mitchell hopes to double their number of successful candidates in the next two years. He wants to both amplify young people with conservative values and counter the progressive faction of the Democratic Party, which he said offers young voters more representation with politicians like U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost.

Frankly, I think the Democrat Party does a really good job of trying to put some of these young people that have been successful on a pedestal and showcase them to the world, he said. And not necessarily neglect them like the Republican Party or the conservative movement has done to a certain extent when young people try to get involved.

In January, Run GenZ held its annual candidate training workshop. Engen attended for the first time as a speaker and found people had the same questions he did: Am I ready to do this? How do people perceive my age? Will I be taken seriously?

Engen estimates 150 Gen Z-ers were there and are running for office across the country.

Engen said he told them, "Yes, you can. You need to quit seeing youth and quote unquote inexperience as something that's a detriment. It's a power, because you're able to come to this with a fresh perspective."

As state representatives debated HF 1, a bill to protect abortion rights in Minnesota, for hours in January, Engen shared the story of a 15-year-old pressured into an abortion clinic by an abusive boyfriend. An older woman intervened, letting her know she could choose to raise the child. That girl was his mother.

He voted against the bill, which ultimately passed and became law, calling it not reasonable and expressing concern around the lack of guardian consent.

I respect the stories that weve heard from the other side of the aisle and youre strong for telling em, Engen told Democrats. But what was needed, he said, was for legislators to help constituents find ways to actually speak to each other again.

Bringing people together and being responsive to constituents is at the heart Engens approach to his job.

On the campaign trail, he said he heard public safety, school safety and the general affordability of life were the top issues so its what he is prioritizing in his first term.

Recently, Engen voted against restoring voting rights for felons once theyre out of prison or jail. He also introduced the Safe Haven In Every Local District (SHIELD) Act, which would mandate and fund school security system improvements.

We have passion. We have energy. And we have ideas. Now, it's just time that they're brought to the table and implemented in our state's policy, he said.

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Meet the first Gen Z Republican elected to the Minnesota Legislature - MPR News

Republicans

Line are drawn between the extremist wing and those who distance themselves from portraying the rioters as sightseers

Mon 13 Mar 2023 06.00 EDT

Some Republicans have rebuked efforts by Donald Trump and Fox News host Tucker Carlson to whitewash the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, underscoring a significant split in the party over attempts to downplay the events of the day.

Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the House, turned over more than 40,000 hours of security footage from the Capitol to Carlson earlier this year. This week, Carlson aired selectively edited portions of that footage, falsely claiming the rioters were sightseers and not insurrectionists. At least 1,000 people have been arrested for their role in the January 6 attack. Five people died as a result of it.

More than 999 people have been arrested so far, according to the justice department. Around 518 people have pleaded guilty to federal crimes to date and 53 have been found guilty at trial.

Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, quickly distanced himself from Carlsons portrayal. It was a mistake, in my view, for Fox News to depict this in a way thats completely at variance with what our chief law enforcement official here at the Capitol thinks, he said on Tuesday.

Thom Tillis, a Republican senator from North Carolina, was blunter in his critique. I think its bullshit, he said earlier this week.

I was here. I was down there, and I saw maybe a few tourists, a few people who got caught up in things, he said. But when you see police barricades breached, when you see police officers assaulted, all of that if you were just a tourist you shouldve probably lined up at the visitors center and came in on an orderly basis.

Mitt Romney, the junior Republican senator from Utah, told reporters that attempts to downplay the January 6 attack were dangerous.

Its a very dangerous thing to do, to suggest that attacking the Capitol of the United States is in any way acceptable and its anything other than a serious crime, against democracy and against our country, he said, according to NBC. And people saw that it was violent and destructive and should never happen again. But trying to normalize that behavior is dangerous and disgusting.

McCarthy has defended his decision to give Carlson the footage. I said at the very beginning: transparency. What I wanted to produce for everyone was exactly what I said so people could look at it and see what went on that day, he told reporters this week.

Trump, who is under investigation for his role in the January 6 attack, praised Carlson on Tuesday. GREAT JOB BY TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT, he wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. The Unselect Committee of political Hacks & Thugs has been totally discredited. They knowingly refused to show the Videos that mattered. They should be tried for Fraud and Treason, and those imprisoned and being persecuted should be exonerated and released, NOW!

LET THE JANUARY 6 PRISONERS GO. THEY WERE CONVICTED, OR ARE AWAITING TRIAL, BASED ON A GIANT LIE, A RADICAL LEFT CON JOB. THANK YOU TO TUCKER CARLSON AND SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE KEVIN McCARTHY FOR WHAT YOU BOTH HAVE DONE. NEW VIDEO FOOTAGE IS IRREFUTABLE!!! Trump posted on Truth Social earlier this week.

Trump recently recorded a single for charity with some of the people in prison for the January 6 attack.

The far-right Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has long downplayed the January 6 attack. Andrew Clyde, a Georgia congressman, in 2021 compared the rioters to tourists at the Capitol.

But Dan Crenshaw, another conservative Republican congressman from Texas, said that continuing to downplay the attack would just be embarrassing to the party.

Its definitely stupid to keep talking about this So what is the purpose of continuing to bring it up unless youre trying to feed Democrat narratives even further? he told Politico.

I dont really have a problem with making it all public. But if your message is then to try and convince people that nothing bad happened, then its just gonna make us look silly.

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Republican response to the January 6 Capitol attack divides party - The Guardian US

Rather than attacking the merits of the impending alleged hush money case against Donald Trump, Republicans on Fox News suggested that the news of former presidents potential arrest is part of a secret plan to distract from the allegations against Hunter Biden.

Well, its very odd that [the news of a possible Trump indictment] would come out just the very next day after I revealed bank records which showed that the Biden family the president in particular hasnt been truthful with respect to his family receiving payments directly from the Chinese communist party, Republican Rep. James Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee, said on Foxs Sunday Morning Futures. Comer is referring to a memo he released Friday alleging that Hunter Biden and two other Biden relatives received $1.3 million from one of Hunters connections who is linked to a Chinese energy company. While this news had been reported last year, Comer claimed that new evidence shows that Hallie Biden, the widow of the presidents son Beau Biden, received two payments adding up to $35,000.

Comer continued, It almost looks like its an effort to detract. But at the very least its another example of the two-tiered system of justice.

Comer does not offer any evidence aside from the timing of the news breaking to prove that a years-long case against Trump in the Manhattan district attorneys office is somehow a wag the dog situation to cover up for Hunter Biden. Fox News reported Friday that officials were preparing to arrest Trump, and the former president publicized the possibility of his arrest in a post to Truth Social on Saturday.

A spokesperson for Hunter Bidens legal team issued a statement responding to the release of Comers Friday memo: Hunter Biden, a private citizen with every right to pursue his own business endeavors, joined several business partners in seeking a joint venture with a privately-owned, legitimate energy company in China, the spokesperson said. As part of that joint venture, Hunter received his portion of good faith seed funds which he shared with his uncle, James Biden, and Hallie Biden, with whom he was involved at the time, and sharing expenses. The accounts so dramatically listed by Rep. Comer belonged to Hunter, his uncle and Hallie nobody else.Editors picks

Democrats also responded to Comers allegations against the Bidens, telling NBC News that one of the payments to Hallie Biden that Comer cited came before Hunter Biden or his associate received the funds from the Chinese energy company. Concealing this context paints a typically distorted picture and marks another depressing low for this investigation, said a spokesperson for the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. Hunter Biden has said that he and Hallie were in a romantic relationship at the time she received funds from him.

Comer was not the only Republican to suggest that Biden somehow may be using the Stormy Daniels hush money case against Trump to divert attention from his sons finances. John Ratcliffe, who served as Director of National Intelligence under Trump, hinted that the prosecution may have ulterior motives.

This is so incredibly disturbing, Fox host Maria Bartiromo said while interviewing Ratcliffe. Do you think theres a coincidence that as soon as Comer comes out and exposes those bank records that suddenly Trump is going be indicted?

I dont really believe much in coincidences, Ratcliffe said. And so I do think that theyre I think that its important what Congressman Comer is doing, and its a way for the American people to find out whats really happening, and I hope that effort continues.

Ratcliffe also accused Democrats of being a mix of socialists and communists who dont like the American justice system. Trending

This distraction theory is just one part of Republicans attempts to discredit the investigation into Trump. Trumps former vice president, Mike Pence, has maligned the case as political prosecution and accused prosecutors of being part of the radical left. Meanwhile, the former presidents supporters are calling for civil war and suggesting the formation of a Patriot moat around Mar-a-Lago to prevent law enforcement from arresting Trump.

Trump denies Daniels claims that they had a sexual relationship and says the case has no legal basis. But that case is just one of many investigations the former president faces. Trump is currently under investigation for removing classified government documents from the White House and for allegedly attempting to influence the 2020 election results in Georgia. The Justice Department is also pursuing a criminal probe regarding Trumps role in Jan. 6 as well as his attempts to overturn the election.

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Republicans Suggest Possible Trump Indictment Is to Distract from Hunter Biden Allegations - Rolling Stone

Del. Christopher Eric Bouchat (R-Carroll) in the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Photo by Josh Kurtz.

It was a typical day for Republicans on the floor of the House of Delegates on Tuesday.

GOP lawmakers launched lengthy debates on gun regulations, transportation funding and tax breaks for retirees, only to see the latter two discussions lead to predictably resounding defeats as they attempted to add amendments to Democratic bills. The third debate, on guns, will continue into Wednesday, but is likely to result in the same lop-sided futility.

For many Republicans, it was all in a days work a chance to shine a spotlight on what they characterize as Democratic overreach and to put Democrats on record supporting policies that the GOP will invariably use on the campaign trail and in fundraising appeals.

But freshman Republican Del. Christopher Eric Bouchat of Carroll County is suggesting that such a strategy has its limits. He asserts that Republicans have become too performative during floor debates in the House and that they run the risk of obsolescence in a chamber where they are badly outnumbered.

That lament has angered several of Bouchats more senior colleagues who characterize his stanceas a form of surrender.

The strategic debate was a topic of heated discussion in the weekly House Republican Caucus meeting Tuesday morning and could come up again when the caucus gathers Wednesday morning. To some Republicans, the messenger was just as objectionable as the message.

The internecine conflict started when Bouchat, a conservative who arrived in Annapolis this year after serving a term on the Carroll County Board of Commissioners,sent a letter to his GOP colleagues last week, questioning their tactics and urging them to look inward for corrective measures that increase our future success rates.

Bouchat, a self-proclaimed political nerd and one of the original Republican plaintiffs who challenged Marylands congressional district map in court following the 2010 Census, observed that many of his fellow Republicans have become show horses on the House floor, offering meaningless messaging amendments to bills that have no chance of passing or of influencing the broader State House debate.

We as a party have limited resources with 39 proverbial troops opposing 102 troops in military terms, Bouchat wrote in the letter. Any individual with officer training in combat will tell you it is a waste of resources, energy, and life to continuously execute a frontal assault upon a superior entrenched force, yet that is what we keep doing only to be repulsed and laughed atIf we were a military unit our commander would be court martialed. I feel we are stuck in a perpetual loop of failure.

In an interview, Bouchat said he believes that committees, rather than the House floor, are the appropriate venues for lengthy debates over legislation.Once its out of committee, its a done deal.

He added that by rhetorically torching Democratic proposals, Republicans are making it more difficult to work with their colleagues who control the agenda and the purse strings in Annapolis. Democrats, he noted, won a clear and decisive victory in Maryland last fall.

Bouchat, who owns a welding and metal fabricating business, likens the situation to a workplace: An employee who routinely irritates the boss isnt going to be able to credibly ask for a raise. And 95% of the Republican attempts to amend a bill, he calculated, are defeated.

If I had an employee who was successful 5% of the time, Id fire them, Bouchat said.

The GOP intramural debate comes as both houses of the General Assembly become steadily more polarized. While the level of partisan rancor isnt anywhere near what it is on Capitol Hill, the fact is that while conservative Democrats held sway for decades in Annapolis until very recently, the Democratic caucuses have moved steadily to the left over the last few elections, while the Republican caucuses have moved to the right. True ideological moderates in both parties are hard to come by.

And with supermajorities in both chambers, Democrats can largely move their agenda without paying the Republicans much heed especially with Democrat Wes Moore now serving as governor.

Del. Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery), who served until recently as House parliamentarian and fought fiercely with Republicans over procedural and ideological questions during the past few legislative sessions, said House Democrats are still willing to work with their GOP colleagues.

We are bringing out Republican bills and theyre gaining support, especially when the [Republican] members are working to build relationships, she said.

According to several House Republicans, Bouchats letter became part of the agenda during the 75-minute GOP caucus meeting Tuesday.

I would say we had a lively discussion with respect to peoples ideas and how best to serve our constituents and our state, said House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany), as lawmakers walked from the caucus to the House floor session. I would suggest that [Bouchats letter] was not well-received by his colleagues, but there wont be any consequences for the freshman lawmaker.

Buckel said House Republicans take different approaches when it comes to floor debates: Some speak and offer amendments frequently, others do so occasionally, and many choose to stay silent.

Theres no right strategy, he said. Everybody is going to do what they think is best for their communities and the state.

In interviews as the caucus meeting ended, two firebrand conservatives in the GOP caucus, Del. Matt Morgan (R-St. Marys) and Del. Mark Fisher (R-Calvert), suggested that Bouchats strategy essentially amounted to surrender.

I dont think the Republicans should be waving the white flag, Morgan said.

Fisher added: You have three things down here: Your voice, your vote and your reputation. He wants to give up his voice.

Del. Carl Anderton (R-Lower Shore), who works more closely with Democrats than many of his colleagues, took issue with both the substance and tone of Bouchats letter.

You just got here, Anderton said. Youre calling people whove been here a lot longer losers when you havent really seen the process yet?

GOP strategy on display

During a three-hour House session Tuesday, as lawmakers cycled through dozens of bills, Republicans peppered Democratic floor leaders with questions on several measures. Most dramatically, Republicans used a bill by Del. Mark Edelson (D-Baltimore City) that would change the way fare hikes are calculated for Maryland Transit Administration bus and rail service, to remove a provision in state law that raises the state gasoline tax annually based on the Consumer Price Index. The amendment, introduced by Morgan, was hotly debated for about 20 minutes.

Several Republicans argued that the legislature shouldnt consider a bill that effectively decouples transit fares from the inflation rate without doing the same for motorists especially during a period of persistent inflation, when a significant gas tax hike on July 1 is inevitable. Morgan estimated that the state could be collecting an additional $62.4 million in gas taxes then.

We talk a lot about equity in this body, Buckel said. Equity to me means fairness. It means treating people in an equally situated way.

Fisher warned that tax increases are crushing the middle class in Maryland.

Defending Edelsons bill, Del. Marc Korman (D-Montgomery), the chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and the Environment, said transit fares and gas taxes are significantly different, because the states Transportation Trust Fund, which is replenished with gas tax revenues, is so big.

Its really not comparable to what were talking about in terms of scale, he said, adding that the trust fund could be severely depleted and major transportation projects jeopardized if the amendment went through.

But Del. Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County) boiled the debate down to its political essence.

So a vote for your amendment, Szeliga asked Morgan, is a vote to tell the citizens of Maryland that we dont want their gas taxes to go up on July 1?

Yes, Morgan replied. And a vote against this amendment says I support a $62.4 million tax increase.

Nevertheless, the amendment failed on a 38-90 vote. Two Democrats Dels. Brian Crosby (St. Marys) and Chou Wu (D-Howard) voted for it. Bouchat was the lone Republican to vote against it. He said in an interview that the floor debate essentially illustrated everything he had written about in his letter to colleagues.

Urging Republicans to be more outspoken

But the days drama did not end there. About an hour after the floor session came to an end Tuesday, six of the most vocal conservatives in the House Republican Caucus Fisher, Morgan, Szeliga and Dels. Lauren Arikan (Harford), Brian Chisholm (Anne Arundel) and Robin Grammer (Baltimore County) issued a statement criticizing Bouchat and rebutting the points in his missive. Arikan, who serves with Bouchat on the Judiciary Committee and on the Criminal Law subcommittee, said she cannot recall a single time he spoke up in an attempt to impact the legislation in our committee.

The statement blasted Bouchat for voting against Morgans amendment on the gasoline tax, saying he failed a basic litmus test of Conservatism.

The six Republicans also took their GOP colleagues to task for not speaking up more on the House floor.

It deeply concerns us that this erroneous concept of rarely or never standing on the floor to articulate Republican and Conservative ideals appears to be the new accepted norm, they wrote.

The lawmakers argued that the House GOP hit its modern-era high water mark 50 seats in the 141-member chamber after speaking out against Democratic taxes and spending during the 2014 election.

Our communities and voters did not send us here to be the handmaidens of the Maryland Democrat Party, the six Republicans wrote. We must stand in solidarity and combat the Lefts ever-growing radical agenda. Our unified vision, unwavering stance, and proactive leadership will allow us to maintain our values against those who seek to destroy them.

Bouchat said he agreed that Republicans should vigorously contest the Democrats in the next legislative elections, which are 3 1/2 years away, and that political opportunities may present themselves for the GOP then. But for now, he said, we need to stop annoying them.

See more here:
Freshman House Republican riles colleagues with suggestion they ... - Maryland Matters