WASHINGTON - House Republicans feel increased pressure to head firmly on the issues, thanks to changes in the policy of the primary election that is complicating the ability of Congress to solve large problems.
Independent research supports the belief of these lawmakers they owe their jobs to more conservative activists, and is more secure that never turn right on many issues, instead of seeking compromise with the Democrats.
On the other hand, the Democrats of the House facing an electorate leaning more liberal in their own primaries. But the trend is less dramatic for the Democrats, whose supporters are more open to compromise to help government work, polls show. And Republican control of the House makes more consistent dynamic GOP.
The recent struggles of the House to handle routine tasks once - such as passing a bipartisan bill in the farm and raise the federal debt limit - in part come from the millions of Republican primary voters who elect representatives with severe warnings not to compromise with the Democrats. It is also one reason that efforts to rewrite immigration laws in the nation face problems in the House, where Republicans quickly dismissed the Senate's bipartisan approach.
In interviews, House Republicans often cite concerns about a possible challenge from the right in their next primary. Many of them represent Republican districts so strongly that it is almost impossible for the party's candidate to lose a general election to a Democrat. Also, these lawmakers say, it is very unlikely that a moderate Republican can wrest the nomination from an incumbent conservative party.
"There are a lot of moderate Republicans who participate in primaries in a conservative district," said representative Kenny Marchant, r-Texas.
That leaves many Republicans of the House with the only requirement to ensure his re-election: never give a room pretty conservative hard-charging right to mount a viable challenge in the primary.
In practice, the task does not seem so difficult. Only six Republican House lost primaries of his re-election last year. Half of them fell to fellow holders in districts redrawn forcing two colleagues who oppose each other. The other three lost to rivals with strong tea party support.
Loss of the Deputy Jean Schmidt was instructive. A conservative by almost any measure, the Ohioan three periods was attacked however to vote to raise the federal debt ceiling and give a kiss on the cheek to President Barack Obama as the House by its 2012 of the direction of the Union State.
Memories of what happened to Schmidt--and for veteran Republican senators like Bob Bennett and Richard Lugar, who also lost the primary to tea party-backed rivals--will rise several times in political debates, House of extradition. Republican legislators regularly take the temperature of conservative activists in their districts, which are crucial in the primary elections, which often attract modest turnouts.
"The members of the House are better in the reading of their districts than anyone else," said Republican lobbyist and pollster Mike McKenna.
McKenna said that it is not unusual to discuss immigration reform with Republicans House that says, "I'm getting e-mails from people who voted in the primaries. "" They say ' I don't care what the Farm Bureau, say I hate these things. ""
Representative John Fleming, R - LA, tracks such e-mails and phone calls. He said that his Office recently received 80 calls about immigration, "and all of them were against Senate Bill."
The Senate Bill would create a path to citizenship - or what many conservatives call "Amnesty" - for millions of immigrants living here illegally. Fleming, you wondered if he is always concerned about going too far for the Republican party primary voters in his district, said: "What is the chance that a moderate Republican coming in and saying, 'Oh, I'm for amnesty'?"
Marchant, the Congressman from Texas, said that it is a permanent conservative seen by voters the Republican party in his district oeste-Dallas primary lean more and more to the right. Tea partiers once voted for the nominees of the libertarian party, said, they are now full-fledged Republicans.
"The Republican mainstream, as a result, have become more conservative," said Marchant. The tea party activists, he said, "found that they could enter the Republican primary and make a real difference."
The representative of the Republican party, Howard Coble, chosen by 15 of central North Carolina, data change in the behavior of primary voters in the middle of the 1990s. Conservative groups, said, "were challenging Bob Dole for not being sufficiently pure."
"That opened the doors to primary races" against Republican incumbents, said Coble.
Surveys of voters support the view that Republican voters are becoming more conservative.
On average, from 1976 to 1990, 47 per cent of the people who voted Republican in House races were considered to be conservative, according to exit polls. A slightly smaller participation had called moderate politicians.
During Clinton presidency - which includes bruising fights over the care of health, gun control, taxes and the uprising began his impeachment - Republican conservatism. From 1992 to 2006, the voters of the Republican party were on average 52% conservative and moderate 41 percent.
And in the most recent elections for the House, 2008-2012, more than 6 in 10 voters who supported a candidate of the party Republican described as conservative. Approximately one-third called themselves moderate.
Meanwhile, those who vote for the Democrats in the House more Liberals have become. But self-proclaimed Liberals understand still less than half of that group. In the years pre-Clinton, 25 per cent is considered to be liberal; on average 33% did so from 1992 to 2006; and it stands at 40 percent in the last three elections.
Michael Dimock, which tracks these trends by the Pew Research Center, said several years ago, there was a noticeable difference between social conservatives and business conservatives of the Republican party. Today, he said, are more Republican voters unified - and solidly conservative.
"The socially conservative right has adopted that you principle anti-Government, pequeno-gobierno and consolidates to a large extent", said Dimock.
House Speaker John Boehner, r-Ohio, put a positive spin on Sunday in what many see as the paralysis of Congress.
"We should not will be judged by how many new laws that we created," Boehner said on CBS "face the nation". "We should be judged on how many laws repeal".
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Associate Director of press polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.
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Follow Charles Babington on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cbabington
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