THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 6, 1995 TAG: 9501060018
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
A Republican Congress became a reality Wednesday as new majorities took over in both Houses - led by House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole.
As promised, Gingrich kept the House in session until 2 a.m. to push through a list of procedural reforms to change the way the House does business.
The number of committees and the size of their staffs were reduced.
The speaker will be limited to eight years in the chair and committee chairmen to six years. Proxy voting was also outlawed. Members will no longer be allowed to cast committee votes when not present, a practice that concentrated power in chairmen holding their proxy.
A sunshine resolution will require all committees to transact their business in public and cameras will be permitted to record more of the people's business.
An audit of House operations was authorized.
A truth-in-budgeting reform will compare proposed spending to current levels, not to spending-plus-estimated-inflation. The old method allowed Congress to soft pedal the size of the spending increases it routinely approves.
The House agreed to subject itself to the same laws it imposes on others - provisions concerning equal employment opportunity, age discrimination, occupational safety, The Family and Medical Leave Act and The Americans with Disabilities Act.
Republicans consider many of these laws expensive intrusions on private employers and hope that giving Congress a taste of its own medicine will persuade it to prescribe fewer bitter pills.
Finally, the House agreed to require a three-fifths supermajority to pass income tax rate increases. Here, Republicans passed less than the Contract With America called for. It promised to require a three-fifths vote on any tax hike.
This was the closest vote of the evening, in part because some members thought the three-fifths requirement unconstitutional. But it was close only in relative terms. It still passed 279-152.
Most of the other provisions passed by huge majorities. Truth-in-budgeting by 421-6, for example. Applying all laws to the House by 429-0. In short, the Democrats were steamrolled but largely cooperated by lying down in the road. It's going to be a long two years for the new minority party.
The long first day of institutional reforms was to some extent a publicity stunt. There was no real reason the same business couldn't have been transacted over several days. Democrat Barney Frank stood up around midnight to say that, technically, the Republicans were going to run over into a second day anyway, so why not go home.
But Gingrich didn't get to be speaker by logic alone. He has mastered the media as well. Gingrich was sworn in and gave his conciliatory maiden speech as speaker early enough to dominate the evening news. And it was no accident that the crucial votes took place between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. The last of them may have come after midnight in Washington, but the schedule allowed the session to be seen live on C-Span in prime time from the East Coast to California.
A new age has dawned and Republicans will make full use of the media to promote their agenda and dominate debate, including the admitting of more cameras to the House and the availability of bills over the Internet. Even Bob Dole was reduced to a bit player Wednesday, and President Clinton had no role at all.
Now, however, comes the hard part. There were no constituents tugging to and fro on reform of the House, no dispute between House and Senate or legislative and executive branches. That won't be the case as Gingrich tries to enact the rest of his Contract.
As legislation affecting senior citizens, taxpayers and welfare recipients, the military and corporations is considered, the drama will increase but the fun may diminish. And the votes won't be 429-0. by CNB