
WASHINGTON — In just four months, rookie U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams of Orlando has made clear she intends to be more than a quiet foot soldier in the Republican revolution of last year.
Since joining Congress, the former Orange County deputy sheriff and eight-year state legislator has grown into a full-throttle supporter of every major GOP initiative, even picketing outside the Democratic-controlled Senate when Congress was on the verge of a government shutdown.
She has co-sponsored legislation to neuter the new health-care law, fought efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and joined the crusade to slash the federal budget, positions consistent with the tea-party backers who helped her win a landslide victory over U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, last year.
"It's a drop in the ocean the reductions that we've made in this year's budget," said Adams, who voted against the budget deal that would fund the government through the remainder of 2011 — while slashing an estimated $38 billion — because the cuts weren't deep enough. Last week, she voted for the budget plan by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that, among other things, would slice future funding for Medicare and Medicaid.
Like many of her fellow freshman Republicans, Adams sees cutting the federal budget as a moral imperative.
In addition to these broader GOP issues, Adams has staked out one of her own, something of a pet issue for some scholars on the right.
She wants to bar U.S. courts from ever relying on foreign law when deciding a case — even though there are few examples of courts even referencing international precedent.
"One is too many times," she said, warning that foreign law ultimately could undermine the U.S. legal system.
"What you [could] see is a slow deterioration of our Constitution," she said.
In March, Adams used her first overseas trip to visit Guantánamo Bay, leaving the military prison even more convinced that it "serves a vital role in our War on Terror" — reviving a term from the Bush years.
And on her first day in office, Adams backed so-called "Fair Tax" legislation that would abolish the Internal Revenue Service, eliminate income taxes and impose a national sales tax. That move earned her grudging respect from Patricia Sullivan, a tea-party activist from Lake County who in 2010 ran for Congress in a neighboring district.
"She made a commitment to support the Fair Tax and … she followed through," Sullivan said. "We have to recognize that, because all too often it doesn't happen."
Adams' conservative, no-nonsense demeanor has put her on the radar of congressional leaders and the national media; The New York Times recently described has as "extremely steely" and the "toughest representative" in the freshman class during the budget fight.
"I've asked [my constituents] for the job. They have given me the opportunity to serve. And it's my job to make sure that I do it properly," she said. "So, yes, I guess I'm very serious with my job."
"She ran as a conservative, tea-party-backed Republican, and that's pretty much how she has presented herself," said Aubrey Jewett, a political scientist at the University of Central Florida who had several students work on her campaign. "It's not an act; that's her sincere belief."
But praise has been tempered by criticism that Adams has yet to match her rhetoric with real solutions, particularly when it comes to the budget, and that her opposition to the Democratic health-care overhaul rings hollow.
One left-leaning blogger labeled Adams a "healthcare hypocrite" for rejecting her congressional health plan, even though she is still covered by a government policy through her husband, John, an Orange County circuit judge.
Adams defended the arrangement as "just a personal decision" and said it's not hypocritical because she never intended it as a protest against the health-care plan that passed Congress last year.
And though Adams campaigned hard against federal spending — and continues to do so — she has identified only one place where she would make cuts: climate-change research at NASA. Otherwise, she's a full-throated supporter of NASA's roughly $18 billion budget, including its manned space program.
We're still looking at everything," she said. "This federal budget is a very intricate budget."
Dick Batchelor, an Orlando Democratic consultant, says Adams' NASA stance is understandable, given that she represents Kennedy Space Center.
"At one point you have to set aside the rhetoric and represent your constituents," he said, noting that NASA ultimately could create a conflict for Adams — as the agency is a perfect example of a bloated federal program to many tea-party activists.
"This is a real test on whether she'll be a tea-party purist or vote more practically to respond to constituent needs," he said.
So far, Adams has advocated cuts to NASA's climate-change program to help pay for its human-spaceflight program — even though the roughly $500 million would cover only a fraction of the billions required to create a new government rocket to replace the space shuttle.
But in a letter to congressional leaders, Adams skipped the jobs issues and suggested that NASA should cut climate-change research as a matter of priority.
"Global warming funding presents an opportunity to reduce spending without unduly impacting NASA's core human spaceflight mission," Adams wrote.
But days later, in a floor speech, she said the human spaceflight was a "proven economic driver and job creator."
In contrast, space advocates aligned with the White House argue NASA should steer away from another government spaceship, as advocated by Adams and other Florida lawmakers, and save money by relying more on commercial-rocket companies.
Adams' NASA ties landed her on the science committee — replacing Kosmas — while her 17 years as a sheriff's deputy helped get her a seat on the judiciary committee.
The previous Republican to hold her seat, former U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney of Oviedo, said committee work — even on less-influential panels such as science or judiciary — was the best place for a lawmaker such as Adams to make her mark.
"Sandy is not going to be a wild Lone Ranger out there holding a lot of press conferences and doing a lot of showy stuff," Feeney said. "The fact that she's not a loudmouth and takes disciplined steps toward reform makes her a key player."
Indeed, discipline has been a hallmark of Adams, who credits her years as a deputy.
At a recent breakfast meeting of the Florida delegation, Adams was among the first to arrive, showing up before 8 a.m. with a neat red folder ready to gather signatures for a bill aimed at curbing a new drug trend: stimulants sold as "bath salts" to get high.
Among the co-sponsors is another freshman, U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, who served with Adams in the state Legislature. Though the two are near-polar opposites on the political spectrum, Wilson called Adams a "close friend" with whom she speaks daily.
"We have been on opposing sides in Tallahassee, and I'm sure we will be on opposing sides here," Wilson said. "But we have always been able to work across party lines and maintain our friendship."
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