Oh, if only these guys would go to their Congressional seats in the sky, the Republicans could pick up 21 seats!
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washingtonpost.com
'Old Bull' Democrats Frustrate House GOP
By David S. Broder
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 6, 2003; Page A01
For more than two decades, as his state has become increasingly Republican, Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina has moved steadily up the seniority ladder to become the Budget Committee's senior Democrat and the second-ranking member on Armed Services.
Like most others in his party, Spratt voices "great frustration" that the tightly disciplined GOP majority regularly curtails floor debate and blocks Democratic amendments from even being considered. But, like almost all the senior House Democrats, he also finds motivation to stay around, election after election. He finds value and fulfillment in briefing colleagues, reporters and editorial boards on what he sees as an increasingly threatening fiscal situation.
If Spratt is frustrated by the House Republicans, they are equally frustrated by him. He plans to run for a 12th term in a district carried handily by President Bush -- a seat he virtually owns but one the GOP feels confident will fall to them whenever Spratt retires.
The abundance of John Spratts -- veteran Democrats in their sixties or beyond who hang in year after year, even when the odds are heavy against a switch of control that would make them committee chairmen instead of ranking minority members -- is a main reason that Republican majorities in the House remain at historically narrow levels. A senior Republican strategist lists 21 districts held by "old bull" Democrats who are the ranking minority members of full committees or subcommittees that, he said, would certainly be competitive and very possibly switch if the incumbent were to step down.
So what keeps these senior Democrats coming back, time after time, to face more disappointment? Most of them have served long enough to be eligible for sizable pensions. And many could find lucrative employment outside government.
When a cross section was asked what motivates them in this, the ninth year of GOP dominance, they cited a variety of factors that keep them going despite their anger that the Republican-controlled Rules Committee routinely blocks Democratic amendments from being debated on the floor and that Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) keeps roll calls open for as much as an hour while his lieutenants strong-arm reluctant members to pass controversial measures on party-line votes.
Although Republicans argue that Democrats were at least as high-handed during their 40 years of control, senior Democrats insist that the institution has been fundamentally changed -- for the worse. "There are no debates on the floor anymore," said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), a spirited debater. "The GOP is the most disciplined party in the Western world. . . . There is never any doubt about the outcome of a floor vote."
But a good many of those interviewed say that their committees operate in a much less partisan atmosphere and that their personal relationships with their Republican chairmen are so comfortable that they feel a sense of proprietorship in drafting legislation.
Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), a 23-year House veteran, said, "I could not ask for a better partner" than International Relations Committee Chairman Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.). "Everything we do, we do together."
Others, who say they are at war with the GOP leadership and the White House, are fueled by their love of combat.
"I'm not frustrated at all," said Rep. Martin Frost (Tex.), ranking Democrat on the Rules Committee. "I give the Republicans hell every day. I have a good time up here," even though he and his colleagues are regularly outvoted 8 to 4 in the committee. "Since the Republicans vote in lockstep, our role is to show the public their shortcomings. And who's to say we won't take the House back some day?"
Other Democrats say they find enough satisfaction in their dealings with their constituents to make up for the frustrations of their hours on Capitol Hill.
"Here, you feel stifled," said Rep. John B. Larson (Conn.), senior Democrat on the House Administration Committee. "What keeps you interested are the town meetings back home. People want a chance to vent their feelings to their congressman, and you really learn from that."
Beyond these rewards, some have been doing their jobs so long they cannot imagine giving them up. "It's like fishing," said Rep. George Miller (Calif.). "It's the potential of catching that big one. I love the legislative process."
The portrait Democrats paint is of a House that is more complex, vexing and yet still rewarding than the partisan snake pit often depicted by the media.
Rep. Jane Harman (Calif.), senior Democrat on the intelligence committee, said, "I live on one of the rare islands of sanity," where even the most contentious issues -- such as the examination of the pre-Sept. 11, 2001, performance by the CIA and the FBI -- can be addressed by Republican and Democratic staffs "working together." She said, "I think we're unique" in forging a partnership with Chairman Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.).
The interviews turned up several other senior Democrats who revel in their relationships with their GOP counterparts.
In the Agriculture Committee, Rep. Charles W. Stenholm (D-Tex.), whose seat is a target of Republican redistricting efforts, said the partisan forces inside and outside the House intrude "not at all" on its work. He and the recently retired chairman, Larry Combest (R-Tex.), stood together in defying the White House and the House GOP leadership to pass the generous farm bill of 2002. "Rural interests understand that we are a minority," Stenholm said, "and we can't let party differences divide us."
Other committees that senior Democrats say retain much of their traditional comity are Transportation and Infrastructure, Resources and Armed Services. Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.) said that in his 30 years on the first of those committees, "the majority always tried to accommodate the minority" in allocating road money to local projects. The staff that Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) brought with him from the Resources Committee, "had operated in a very partisan environment, and it took them awhile to acclimate themselves to our very bipartisan style," Oberstar said. "Now it's working pretty well."
The new chairman of Resources, Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.), made the committee's senior Democrat, Rep. Nick J. Rahall II (W.Va.), "apprehensive, because I'd seen him throw a lot of right-wing bombs on the House floor," Rahall said. "But he has allowed Democratic amendments and healthy debate in the committee, and he has not used his chairmanship to advance a right-wing agenda."
These Democrats say they believe they can still make a contribution to legislation in their committees, but they share the widespread complaint that dissenting views are not allowed much expression on the House floor. And some colleagues who serve on more partisan committees say what motivates them is the chance to fight Republicans and -- perhaps some day -- pay them back when Democrats are in control.
That is the message from five veteran Democrats at the heart of the partisan struggle over fiscal, social and regulatory issues.
Rep. Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.), top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, said the combination of DeLay and committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) -- who was forced to apologize to the House for summoning Capitol Police to remove caucusing Democrats from a committee room -- has reduced the chamber's proudest panel, renowned for its substantive expertise, "to the level of a state legislature. We used to write legislation. Now, it's all what the leader wants."
"Until this point," Rangel said, "there was never a day I didn't enjoy being here. Now it's a job." Nonetheless, he said, he will stay until projects underway in his Harlem district are completed or he has been forced to abandon any hope that "I might be chairman of this exciting committee."
Rep. John D. Dingell (Mich.), who survived a serious primary challenge last summer to secure his 24th term, said it outrages him that "all decisions now are handed down from the speaker's office." Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.), who holds the gavel on the Energy and Commerce Committee that Dingell headed for years, "could be a really good chairman," Dingell said, "but they keep him snubbed up on a very short chain. It's a command-and-control operation now, from the top down, just like the military."
Dingell's motivation, he said, "is to stop them repealing good laws." Citing proposed changes in Medicare, the minimum wage and environmental statutes, he said, "My daddy [who held the same seat for years] would turn over in his grave if he thought I would stand down and let that happen."
Dingell's Michigan neighbor, Rep. John Conyers Jr., top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said he has enjoyed good relations with Hyde, the former chairman, and the current chairman, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.). But once bills leave the committee, he said, "we get it in the neck every time." In his frustration, he retreats to the John Coltrane tapes and the big bass fiddle he keeps in his office. He stays on in hopes that "next year we can defeat this president and get rid of [Attorney General] John Ashcroft."
Rep. Henry A. Waxman (Calif.), senior Democrat on the Government Reform Committee, has found a different coping mechanism. "I decided to do things on my own," he said. Using the committee's Democratic staff, he has conducted investigations of the Halliburton contract in Iraq and the questionable claims about uranium in the president's State of the Union address, and has issued scores of reports that Democratic members can distribute to opinion leaders in their districts on such topics as the high price of drugs and shortcomings in veterans' health care. "You do what you can," he said.
And Rep. David R. Obey (Wis.), senior Democrat on Appropriations, said that even his committee, long considered the heart of the House, has surrendered much of its claim to legislative expertise. "Bill Young [of Florida, who chairs the committee] fought all last year to get his leadership to face reality," Obey said, "but this year, he's given up. Now, young staffers in DeLay's office cut the deals necessary to pass the spending bills in their own caucus, and we don't write the bills in committee anymore."
Why hang around after 34 years? "You're needed most when things are toughest for what you believe in," Obey said. He thanks Bush for bringing that lesson home to him.
At a White House meeting last winter on homeland security, Obey said, Bush threatened to veto any spending that topped his budget "without even hearing the evidence Bill Young and I brought him about the needs of the FBI, the Coast Guard and the first responders. I was so enraged by what happened, I could hardly see. It motivated me to stay around here another 10 years."
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