WASHINGTON -- Late Friday night, as the U.S. House executed a one-week punt on homeland security funding, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, rotated his arms and grinned for a reporter.
"Look, they're both intact," he said.
The freshman Loudermilk had been through an arm-twisting during a failed vote earlier in the evening to extend funding for three weeks. He and Rep. Jody Hice, R-Monroe, were the only Georgia Republicans who voted against the measure.
The vote was kept open for about a half-hour longer than normal as House GOP leaders tried to whip up votes for the measure. Loudermilk and Hice both waited for a long time to cast their votes -- Hice did only after a quick word with chief deputy whip Patrick McHenry, R-N.C. -- then both Georgians were summoned back to the cloakroom to talk about it.
Loudermilk joked that he figured out the best way to get leaders' attention is to wait a long time to cast your vote. Their tactics are a far cry from Frank Underwood or even Tom DeLay. Here's Loudermilk's take on the experience:
"And [I] made my mind up that we needed to send a strong message that the President of the United States has to abide by the same laws that the rest of America abides by. ... We sent that strong message."
But Loudermilk ended up voting in favor of a one-week funding extension, which he felt prevented a scenario in which a court allows President Barack Obama's immigration actions to resume -- and Congress ends up funding them. At the same time, he didn't fault House leaders for trying the three-week route:
"I understand what we're doing. They need to get the votes. We're talking about the shutdown of a very critical government agency and these guys are doing what they're supposed to do."
Were there threats? Special offers?
"No, I mean, really not, other than: 'What do you need?' And mine was a shorter timeframe, I think a more manageable time frame."
Loudermilk met with the new House Freedom Caucus, a splinter group from the conservative Republican Study Committee that formed the bulk of the opposition to the three-week bill. Most of the same group ended up voting against a one-week bill, too, with Democrats' flip making the difference.
"There's different ideas. It's free thoughts in there, and I'm not sure what the guys out there are voting. But I told 'em, I said: Look, I kind of helped bring us to where we are now, and I committed to leadership that if they would go with a shorter timeframe I would go with them. So I'm living up to that word."
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