Politico (By MARIN COGAN & JONATHAN ALLEN)
The delegation that prays together stays together — just ask South Carolina’s House Republicans, a bloc of five lawmakers that have proved some of the toughest votes to crack as GOP leaders push to flip votes for their deficit reduction package.
Early Thursday evening, three of the South Carolina freshmen — Jeff Duncan, Tim Scott and Mick Mulvaney — convened in a small chapel adjacent to the Capitol Rotunda to talk and pray about the vote.
Rep. Joe Wilson, the only senior colleague in the group, entered the speakers office around 6 p.m., around the same time Republicans were supposed to bring their bill to the House floor. The South Carolina freshmen were in and out of Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy’s office throughout much of the night, as leaders tried to determine what, if anything, could be done to change their minds.
Scott emerged briefly before 10 p.m. to tell reporters he was still a no. Not long after, leadership canceled the vote for the night.
As freshmen members of Congress, the close ties among the South Carolina freshmen stand out. They regularly pray together and are in near constant communication with one another about their votes. They dine together on Capitol Hill and play basketball in the House gym. Two of them, Duncan and Scott, share an apartment.
Their bonds developed before they came to Washington. Duncan, Scott and Mulvaney served together in the state legislature and both Scott and Gowdy belonged to the South Carolina-based Liberty Fellowship before their election to Congress…
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