And now, his learning curve steepens. Suddenly, sign-waving constituents are turning up at district offices, and Runyan and other congressional rookies are needing to wield words like debt ceiling and default.
Elected as part of the tea-party-fueled uprising against Washington that gave Republicans the House majority, Runyan has kept his head down and focused mainly on Third District issues.
At the same time, he has been a reliable vote for the GOP leadership, including on a budget that would privatize Medicare. Democrats say Runyan's support for a "far right" fiscal agenda defies his moderate swing district.
After needling his aide, Runyan smiled, grabbed a portfolio of papers, and headed for a meeting of the House Committee on Natural Resources, scheduled to consider 33 amendments to a package of GOP bills designed to cut regulation of renewable-energy projects.
For much of the next four hours, Runyan sat through the "markup" session, the guts of the legislative process. He did not speak, but cast his vote against amendments proposed by the minority Democrats, glancing in his briefing book. When the colleagues on either side of him slipped out, Runyan draped his massive arms over the backs of the empty chairs. Sometimes he'd twirl a water bottle, thinking.
Rep. Edward J. Markey (D., Mass.) said the Republicans were pushing "evisceration of the environmental laws" in the guise of supporting clean energy, and favoring the oil and gas industries with tax breaks. GOP members cited examples of environmental reviews stalling projects. At one point, lawmakers argued over whether it would endanger the public to eliminate a required Federal Aviation Administration review of towers erected to test the feasibility of wind turbines.
That's the kind of pettifoggery Runyan said he went to D.C. to stop.
