MATTHEW TULLY

Tully: Rep. Marlin Stutzman and conservative discontent

Matthew Tully

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman has been a frequent voice of conservative discontent in Congress in recent years, one of those politicians willing to take on his own party’s bosses in very public ways. But, he insists, it’s not like he enjoys it.

“I don’t feel comfortable doing it,” the Republican from Northeast Indiana said as he sat in his Capitol Hill office last week. “But if I believe it’s the right thing to do, I do it.”

Whether he enjoys it or not, he definitely does it. A lot, and to mixed reviews.

Since arriving in Washington four years ago, Stutzman has found himself in the middle of several disputes between frustrated House conservatives and party bosses. His actions haven’t always been well-received, and he acknowledges missteps, but if you talk to him for a while it’s hard to imagine the 38-year-old former state lawmaker suddenly falling completely in line with the traditional listen-to-your-elders congressional culture that tea party Republicans, in particular, have rejected in recent years.

“I don’t see our process and our system working the way it should in the House,” Stutzman said, referring to a top-down rule that he believes too often diminishes the voice and influence of the most conservative wing in the House. And, he added, when he feels that voice is being shouted over, he feels obligated to speak up. It’s a style shared by more and more politicians, and it’s made it hard for congressional leaders to make the compromises necessary to address pressing issues, or even deal with routine ones, such as funding of the Department of Homeland Security.

Earlier this year, Stutzman was a leading voice among a small group of conservatives who pushed unsuccessfully for the removal of incumbent House Speaker John Boehner, saying it was time for “a fresh start.” That wasn’t a surprise; Stutzman’s frustration with leadership has been clear for some time. Late last year, he raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill by accusing GOP leaders of misleading him in the days leading up to a budget vote late last year.

Meantime, Stutzman bucked his party during the last Congress on a vote related to the farm bill, which cost him his spot on the caucus whip team. And his outspoken nature has been frequently on display, such as when he tied a nasty 2013 budget impasse to the GOP feeling “disrespected” by President Obama. He acknowledged those words were careless after The Washington Post lampooned him as “the shutdown’s poster boy.”

That’s quite a run for a lawmaker who is just starting his third full term in Congress. And for a midwestern father of two who, in conversation, seems mild-mannered. Beneath that demeanor, he said, is a guy driven by a deep concern about the nation’s fiscal situation and what he sees as a culture in Washington that sidesteps serious debates.

“We’re in a deep hole here,” he said. “I feel like I have to continue to push that message about being responsible.”

And, so, last Thursday he stood by House Republicans’ decision to attach immigration provisions to a Department of Homeland Security funding bill. Though more senior Republicans warned that it was irresponsible to put national security agencies at risk of a shutdown, Stutzman said it was a chance for Republicans to stick by their principles, stand up to the president and prove that they would take advantage of the full control of Congress voters gave them in November.

“We’ve got to be willing to make some decisions for down the road,” he said.

That message has earned Stutzman a lot of fans, but also has led to setbacks.

He received a flood of criticism during the farm bill debate in the last Congress when he and some other conservatives sought to separate farm policy from the nation’s food stamp program. He argued that merging the two issues has allowed politicians to skirt serious debates about the administration of and spending on each.

“I may have gotten out there a little too far in looking like I was taking away people’s food stamps,” he said last week. “It wasn’t about that. I wish I could have targeted my message a little better.”

Politicians who come to Washington on a promise to buck the system walk a tightrope: They need to prove their independence while not making moves that render them irrelevant. So it was interesting to hear Stutzman share a surprising level of self-reflection as we talked in his office. He questioned his decisions and strategies, and said Congress puts everyone on a learning curve.

“You second guess yourself on things,” he said. “You ask, ‘Did I make a mistake on the farm bill? Was the Speaker vote a good decision?’”

With such questions in mind, it is worth noting that one day after our conversation, Stutzman declined to join 52 House conservatives who voted against a three-week Homeland Security budget offered in hopes of averting a shutdown.

In the end, though, Stutzman, who told me he would look at a Senate run if Sen. Dan Coats doesn’t seek re-election next year, intends to continue to put pressure on a GOP leadership team he believes hasn’t always given conservatives enough say in legislative debates. Although he says he doesn’t enjoy such battles, he seems to enjoy the position they’ve put him in. And while he’s been punished by leaders before, he said he hasn’t paid a price for taking on Boehner.

Yet.

“I understand that they didn’t like it, and I didn’t like (doing) it,” he said. “But I felt like it was the right thing to do.”

It’s the kind of thing he is likely to continue doing. The question is, can he do it in ways that don’t cost him in the long run.

You can reach me at matthew.tully@indystar.com or Twitter.com/matthewltully​

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