Right's wish list for GOP retreat: Citizenship, voting bills They also want to require a balanced budget, block Obama’s immigration policies and support Israel’s right to attack Iran.

A group of hardline conservatives will use this week’s GOP retreat to pressure their colleagues into adopting an agenda that includes bills to end “birthright” citizenship, let states impose new requirements for voting and support Israel’s right to launch an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King’s office sent an email Wednesday to chiefs of staffs encouraging lawmakers involved with the Conservative Opportunity Society — a group founded by former Speaker Newt Gingrich — to “stand up at the microphones” during the retreat to advocate for 14 bills they want the GOP-controlled chambers to vote on.


House and Senate Republicans were heading to Hershey, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday for their annual three-day issues retreat. Leaders have billed the confab as a way to bring Republicans from both chambers together and to lower expectations on how quickly the Senate will be able to pass legislation favored by House members.

Ahead of the retreat, King and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) urged fellow conservatives to advocate a series of national security and economic bills.

“Mr. King and Ms. Blackburn would like all members of COS to help advance these measures at the Retreat,” wrote Christopher Hull, King’s chief of staff. “Specifically, my boss is asking members who attend the Retreat to stand up at the microphone and advance this agenda. He has sent an email to all COS members’ personal emails. Please do what you can to lend a hand.”

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Hull wrote that at the society’s breakfast meeting this week, Blackburn helped craft a “conservative ‘Security Agenda,’” which includes bills mandating a balanced budget and stopping President Barack Obama’s executive orders on immigration.

The list of favored bills also includes a wholesale repeal of Obamacare — a measure widely backed by the bulk of congressional Republicans.

Reps. Brian Babin of Texas, Dave Brat of Virginia, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Andy Harris of Maryland, Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, Richard Nugent of Florida, Gary Palmer of Alabama, Joe Wilson of South Carolina and Ted Yoho of Florida also helped assemble the agenda.

The bills, which Hull said in the email have at least “60% public support from the American people,” are a wish-list of conservative Republicans priorities. The legislation includes a balanced budget amendment — a long-held priority for Republicans — along with measures to alter how the government calculates its budget based on inflation and a bill to forbid employers from deducting wages paid to illegal immigrants from income for tax purposes.

The lawmakers also want their colleagues to advocate on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security spending bill that the House passed Wednesday by a vote of 236 to 191. That measure would fund the department while effectively halting Obama’s executive order to shield nearly 5 million immigrants who are in the country illegally. The legislation’s path in the Senate is precarious.

The list also includes a bill King introduced in the last Congress that would change the rules determining who is considered a U.S. citizen, plus legislation from Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas that would require a “proof of citizenship” for Americans looking to vote in federal elections.

Four bills on the agenda also focus on national security, including the Expatriate Terrorist Act. That bill, introduced by Cruz, would strip citizenship from U.S. nationals who join terrorist organizations. The measure was introduced last year as the White House was engaging Congress on the best way to combat the growing influence of the Islamic State.

The lawmakers also want Republicans to vote on a bill introduced by former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) that would designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.