Never before has a new speaker entered office on such a sour note as Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Her vigorous and totally rejected campaign for Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) supports widespread cloakroom sentiment that she is not qualified for her high office and is there because of her gender and the support of the huge California delegation.
As the first majority leader to get the job against the opposition of his speaker, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is in a position to strike off on his own -- particularly in view of his contacts with Blue Dog Democrats, the big (41-member) freshman class of Democrats, businessmen and Republicans. But that is not Hoyer's way. He is a party man who wants a unified Democratic front.
The independent Democratic force in the House is likely to be Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), the hero of '06 as Democratic Congressional Campaign chairman and the new chairman of the Democratic Caucus. Emanuel wanted the No. 3 position of Majority Whip, but that was reserved for the Congressional Black Caucus Chairman James Clyburn (D-S.C.). Emanuel, this week, showed he wants to transform the largely ceremonial duties of Caucus chairman (as held by Clyburn and his predecessors) by sending a memo to members urging reform -- on his own without consultation with the leadership.
Meanwhile, Republicans chose to stand pat in the House, rejecting new leadership. Their caucus kept its present leadership, overwhelmingly rejecting reformers. If Emanuel is sincere about earmark reform, what does the Republican leadership do? House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (D-Mo.) was re-elected after making a vigorous defense of earmarks.
Republican leaders in the current lame-duck session were ready to pass a bipartisan omnibus appropriations bill loaded with earmarks. But reformers -- Senators Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) -- so far have blocked this bill and instead are pushing a continuing resolution keeping spending at its present levels. There will be war on this front going into next year, with Coburn demanding that President Bush pledge veto any spending bill containing earmarks.
The election of Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) to be Senate minority whip is vindication after he was pushed out as majority leader by President Bush on trumped-up charges of racism. Republicans expect a lot better leadership in the minority from Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) than they ever had in the majority from Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). |
