Rep. Billy Long (PoliticMo Photo)
NEOSHO, MO. — After ten months in Congress, Freshman Rep. Billy Long says he is still “fed up” with Washington.
The former Springfield auctioneer, who made a campaign out of being upset with the ways of Washington, told Republicans in Neosho his time in Washington hasn’t been easy.
“We thought we could stop all of the things we were fed up with,” Long said, citing the Affordable Care Act, the Recovery Act, and other pieces of legislation passed by the Democrat-controlled congress of 2008.
But the Republican controlled House is trumped by a Senate controlled largely by Democrats, who won’t have anything to do with the Republican’s legislative agenda. Long said taking control of the U.S. Senate should be a top priority for local activists.
“When you have half of the government, you don’t have much,” he said. “We’ve got a key, important senate race.”
Long said though they haven’t been able to achieve huge legislative victories, Republicans have changed the conversation in Washington. Beyond that, “Our job has been to stop as much as we can stop,” he said.
A highlight of the last couple weeks, he said, was having the opportunity to meet with multiple Republican presidential candidates, including Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, and others.
His pick? “I’m A.B.O.,” Long, always ready with a one-liner said. “Anybody but Obama.”
email: eli [at] politicmo.com | phone: 417.597.3873 | twitter: @eyokley 
Unfortunately, when the Republicans did control both houses and the presidency, I was fed up with Washington just as much as I am now. We need to pay attention to more than just whether there is an R or D after the name of the person we are voting for. We need to pay attention to whether or not they will keep their oath of office to obey the constitution. Unfortunately, Billy Long has fallen short in this area as well and I won’t be voting for him again. I did last time, but he has a record now and records mean more than words.
Whether an elected official has an “R” or a “D” by their names is something very significant to pay attention to, especially in the politics of today. Not really sure how Long has failed to obey the Constitution? On Heritage Foundation’s scale of liberal to conservative… 0 Most Liberal, 100 Most Conservative, Billy got an 86, the closest to 100 of any U.S. Senator or U.S. Representative from Missouri. (Claire McCaskill, in contrast, got a 4.) I didn’t vote for Long in the 2010 Primary either and he wasn’t even my 2nd choice, but from what I’ve seen he’s continued the same tradition of Southwest Missouri values of Taylor, Hancock, & Blunt before him.