Several Republican lawmakers unleashed on Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint GOP lawmakers confront DeMint over ratings Conservatives accuse his group of being too harsh on them.

Long-simmering tensions between The Heritage Foundation, its sister political arm and House Republicans erupted Tuesday during a weekly meeting of conservatives, as GOP lawmakers confronted the nonprofit group’s leader behind closed doors.

Several Republican lawmakers unleashed on Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint — a former South Carolina senator — griping mostly about Heritage Action’s legislative scorecard. The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action are related groups, but the latter advocates for policy and has a scorecard that judges lawmakers’ voting records on Capitol Hill.


The heated exchange came just one day before conservative Republicans headed to the Salamander Resort and Spa in Virginia for a retreat hosted by The Heritage Foundation.

The confrontation, which was described by several participants, came during a meeting of the Republican Study Committee, a conservative caucus led by Texas Rep. Bill Flores. Several lawmakers confronted DeMint, who leads the nonprofit Heritage Foundation.

Georgia Rep. Austin Scott questioned how the conservative Heritage Action scores legislation.

“I think Paul Ryan’s ideas go a long way toward moving the country in the right direction, and are certainty conservative and consistent with most conservative fundamental beliefs,” Scott said in an interview with POLITICO, describing his comments in the closed meeting. “If you score Paul Ryan at a 66, none of us can live up to your standards. If you set an unachievable standard, it hurts our goals.”

Heritage Action actually scores Ryan as voting with the group 58 percent of the time.

Scott also told POLITICO: “Coming from the farm, my granddad would say there are some people who want to prove a point and others who want to make a difference. I feel like Heritage sometimes is trying to prove a point while conservatives in the House are trying to make a difference.”

Texas Rep. Mike Conaway, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, pressed DeMint on the separation between the foundation and its political arm, Heritage Action. Conaway said he doesn’t believe there is a clear separation between the organizations, according to multiple sources who were in the meeting. Republicans applauded Conaway after he was done speaking.

A Conaway spokesman said, “RSC meetings provide members the opportunity to discuss the issues before Congress with one another, as well as with outside groups in a closed-door setting. Without this arrangement, members would not have the same freedom to voice their concerns.”

Reps. Robert Pittenger and Virginia Foxx of North Carolina and Tom McClintock of California also addressed DeMint. McClintock’s office says he defended Heritage from the attacks.

DeMint responded that there was a clear separation between Heritage and Heritage Action. He also said he looks forward to working together in the future, according to sources in the meeting.

Dan Holler, a spokesman for Heritage Action, said, “We work closely with the chairman. In fact, he was at Heritage this morning for the launch of the Index of Economic Freedom.” Wesley Denton, a spokesman for The Heritage Foundation, said Flores invited DeMint to discuss “Heritage’s conservative policy agenda Opportunity for All, Favoritism to None.”

“This was a follow-up to the recent policy summit hosted by Heritage Action, which featured over 20 members of Congress and highlighted reform bills on issues of education, energy, welfare and health care,” Denton said.

It is just the latest fight between conservative lawmakers and Heritage over the past year. Several Republicans were upset over Heritage’s maneuvering on the farm bill. Heritage first urged lawmakers to vote against the legislation. After it failed, Heritage continued to oppose the legislation even after House Republicans stripped out the food stamps and other provisions it found objectionable.

The RSC has been in a bit of turmoil of late, as nine members have started their own conservative caucus separate from the RSC.