WASHINGTON, DC – Republican Study Committee (RSC) Chairman August Pfluger (TX-11) and Vice-Chair Ben Cline (VA-06) outlined their legislative priorities for the Second Session of 119th Congress at a breakfast meeting of The Ripon Society on Wednesday, highlighting the RSC's pivotal role in shaping last year's landmark reconciliation bill and previewing an ambitious agenda centered on affordability.
Pfluger, a Colonel in the Air Force Reserves and decorated fighter pilot who leads the 190-member caucus – the largest conservative bloc in the House – opened the discussion by describing the RSC's collaborative approach to policymaking.
“We know that each of those members has an area of expertise, things that they're passionate about, committees that they serve on, and we wanted to leverage their knowledge and their passion and use RSC as a hub of information sharing, as a place to come and debate and dialogue and talk about things.”
The Chairman then credited the RSC for its central role in developing last year's major legislative achievement: the One Big Beautiful Bill.
“I'm going to credit the RSC for being the incubator, the place where we were able to talk about these ideas in the lead up, and we were able to have discussions that directly led to telling leadership, 'Hey this isn't going to work like that, that's not going to pass,’ or ‘You need to be more aggressive on the savings,’ or whatever the case may be. I think that was probably the most proud moment of the first year of RSC.”
He emphasized the committee's dual role as both policy engine and moral compass for House Republicans.
“We are governing conservatives. We have a responsibility to be the conscience of the conference. I think what you saw last year from our organization was a unity of people coming together and saying, 'We’re going to fight for conservative values, but we also know when to put the pens down and negotiate to pass a bill.'”
The Chairman also shared that the RSC has been working since July to develop a comprehensive framework for a second reconciliation bill.
“We have a responsibility to get this done. And we have taken that seriously. Ben, the RSC staff, myself, have dedicated since July 5th, our blood, sweat and tears towards developing a framework that we can give the President centered around affordability.”
Cline praised the transformation the RSC has undergone under Pfluger's leadership.
“The RSC has been rejuvenated and invigorated like never before,” Cline stated in his opening remarks. “The RSC has such a long and storied history over the years of being that conscience of the conference, the conservative conscience.
“It has provided that leadership role for so many years. But August has taken it really to a new level. … The staff that he's brought on, the media row, the budget negotiations – which are not easy when you have 190 members and some want to lean in and some want to lean back. Negotiations are challenging, but he's become masterful of it.”
The Vice-Chair also highlighted the RSC's technological innovations to improve transparency and legislative analysis.
“We have an app that August and the RSC’s team created for us – Vote Right. … The work that the RSC is continuing to do on the Byrd Rule and using AI to try and develop a history of the Byrd Rule and how it's used, and how it's used successfully versus not successfully and predict future Byrd Rule opportunities, it's amazing what the team and August are doing.”
Later on, the two leaders were asked about the future of health care affordability.
“What we as the RSC want to see is transparency and competition,” answered Pfluger. “There were many provisions in the first reconciliation bill that we passed that we still need to talk about. But the subsidy discussion, they made it seem like every American – all 340 million Americans – was being affected by COVID-era emergency level subsidies, which is not true. Let's talk about the solutions for everyone.”
Cline expressed optimism about the committee's ability to forge consensus on complex healthcare issues.
“There's been this conversation about a lot of these bills, a lot of these issues and the ways to approach healthcare. … That's the great thing about RSC, the art of what can be, and it's a crucible where we can hash a lot of that out behind closed doors in a conversation that's friendly and come out with the best products.”
To view the remarks of Pfluger and Cline before The Ripon Society yesterday morning, please click the link below:
