GOP Veterans Grow Frustrated With Tea Party Freshmen

The relentlessness of newly elected members of the House who have hamstrung the budget process nearly to the point of a government shutdown is wearing on some veteran GOP representatives, Politico reports. And many of them have the ear of Speaker John Boehner. Fifty-four Republican House members voted against the three-week stopgap passed yesterday—not enough to scuttle the bill but enough to concern the GOP at large that their Tea Party peers are being too obstinate in demanding ever-deeper cuts.

"This is the only time in my life where I can cut $6 billion in a three-week period and be called a liberal,” said Mike Simpson, a GOP congressman from Idaho. Another Republican, Tom Cole, said he understands the push for more cuts, but there has to be compromise. “At the end of the day, politics is a team sport. If you really want to get something done, you have to be part of a team that can muster 218 and work with the Senate and the president. That’s just the way the founders set up the system." (More GOP stories.)