Allow me to explain what the House Republicans are doing — not that they will ever admit it.

The House Republicans leaders are scared to death of shutting down the government, never mind that a shutdown is really just a slow down.

The House Republicans leaders absolutely, unequivocally do not want a shut down. Mean time, the Democrats would love a shutdown. They remember 1995, and they remember that it was the government shutdown of 1995 that put Bill Clinton back in the driver’s seat.

While all of this is going on, we have Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid saying we cannot defund the National Endowment of the Humanities because no one would show up at a cowboy poetry festival in Nevada.

We also have Senate Republican Saxby Chambliss now saying he’s willing to consider tax increases and unwilling to defund National Public Radio.

With the House Republicans’ unwillingness to shut down the government, they’ve out negotiated themselves. But the leadership and its inability to effectively whip its own freshman means the leadership needs a plan to scare the beejeezus out of Freshman Republicans. That plan requires a three week continuing resolution.

Let me tell you why.

What comes up in April? The debt ceiling debacle.

Merging the continuing resolution debate and the debt ceiling debate together would be the worst possible situation for conservatives. It would limit their negotiating position for substantive cuts when the clock is ticking toward what Democrats and Republican leaders are calling not just a shut down situation, but a default situation.

If a continuing resolution and debt ceiling debate were merged, moderates would be empowered to push for minimal cuts, no defunding of Obamacare, no defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, no defunding of Planned Parenthood, etc. Republican leaders in the House and Democratic leaders in the Senate would be in the comfy position of being able to ignore conservatives in the name of a “good government compromise,” which is Washington Speak for growing the size and scope of government while pretending not to.

It is crucial for conservatives to fight against the short term CR and force the Democrat and Republican Leaders to sit down now and start making real cuts. The cuts the Republicans are proposing are a drop in the bucket to real reform.

The voters put the GOP in power to cut the size of government. It is time to do just that.

Below is a list of Freshman Republicans to call and demand they oppose the House GOP Leadership’s short term continuing resolution. Call 202-224-3121, ask for the Congressman, and tell him to oppose the new short term CR and demand he support substantive cuts and a long term plan.

These are the freshmen who voted for the Mulvaney amendment to bring spending levels back to the 2006 level. The vote was 93 to 328. It is a pretty good list of the most conservative members and freshmen with some anomaloies (Denham, Hurt, etc.).

You can reach each of these Congressmen by calling 202-224-3121.

1) Amash (MI) *voted against the first CR
2) Buerkle (NY)
3) Denham (CA)
4) Duncan (SC)
5) Ellmers (NC)
6) Fleishmann (TN)
7) Gardner (CO)
8) Gowdy (SC)
9) Griffin (AZ)
10) Griffith (VA)
11) Harris (MD)
12) Huizenga (MI)
13) Huelskamp (KS) *already opposed
14) Hurt (VA)
15) Labrador (ID)
16) Landry (LA)
17) Mulvaney (SC)
18) Pompeo (KS)
19) Reed (NY)
20) Ribble (WI)
21) Rigell (VA)
22) Rokita (IN)
23) Schweikert (AZ)
24) A. Scott (GA)
25) T. Scott (SC)
26) Southerland (FL)
27) Stutzman (IN)
28) Walsh (IL)
29) Woodall (GA)
30) T. Young (IN)

Other obvious conservative freshmen who didn’t vote for the Mulvaney amendment:

31) Fincher (TN)
32) Lankford (OK)
33) Webster (FL)
34) West (FL)

Of the non-freshmen, these are the conservatives that should be no brainers that we need to hear from soon:

1) Broun (GA)
2) Chaffetz (UT)
3) Coffman (CO)
4) Fleming (LA)
5) Foxx (NC)
6) Franks (AZ)
7) Flake (AZ)
8) Garrett (NJ)
9) Jordan (OH)
10) Lamborn (CO)
11) McClintock (CA)
12) Pearce (NM)
13) Pence (IN)
14) Scalise (LA)
15) Graves (GA)
16) Blackburn (TN)
17) Lummis (WY)

Bachmann, Gohmert, Paul, Jones, and Steve King are presumably already a no vote because they voted against the first CR.