Wow, this is on top of the GOP silently kicking younger members out of budget committees earlier this week for not bowing enough to the party line[1]. The GOP has had opportunities lately to shed some of their hypocritical big-government stances; their growing younger libertarian-ish/anti-special-interests wing (Rand Paul, Justin Amash, etc) is in my view their best hope for long-term survival, but the establishment seems to be denying that as much as possible.
The 'younger members' you reference were kicked out since they voted against the Paul Ryan budget because it did not cut spending enough. They were further to the right than Paul Ryan, and Republican leadership is trying to build support for some kind of budget deal.
Not sure, but I think they're more open to military cuts, which is kinda 'further to the left.'[1] They think the leadership would rather raise taxes than cut a growing defense budget. You could say the leadership is more establishment-left (compromise by raising taxes) and the 'younger members' are more anti-establishment-left (compromising by cutting defense). From my bias I see it as more of an anti-establishment thing than a left-right thing; it's not that they weren't moderate enough, they weren't the right kind of moderate, which is why I think the GOP leadership is cutting off their only chance at courting the younger demographics.
[1] http://blog.heritage.org/2012/12/04/huelskamp-amash-say-hous...