THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 13, 1995 TAG: 9508130038
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
The second 100 days of Republican rule in the Congress are coming to an end as the summer recess begins. It's worth asking whether the revolution is on track and living up to voter expectations.
Yes and no. The most obvious Contract With America successes are controls on unfunded mandates and making the laws Congress passes apply to Congress. On the debit side, Congress has so far failed to pass a line-item veto, term limits or a balanced-budget amendment.
The amendment per se was always an unnecessary gimmick; what matters is getting the deficit under control. Much of the work of the second 100 days has concerned appropriations bills designed to lead to a balanced budget. On that front, Congress is making headway, but the Republicans are themselves divided on what to cut and how deep.
Voters clearly want a deficit headed for zero, but they also want the pain spread equally. Yet the more extreme Republican proposals call for tightening the screws on seniors and the poor while granting tax relief to the prosperous, leaving corporate welfare untouched and spending more on defense pork than the Pentagon has requested.
Republicans are really out of step with the public when it comes to pandering to special interests. Voters didn't throw out Democrats like Rep. Dan Rostenkowski only to hire Republicans equally in thrall to a new set of vested interests. Voters want Washington to regulate less, but that doesn't mean giving carte blanche to corporate lobbyists.
Campaign-finance reform is not on the radar, and moderate Republicans are worried about the repeal of laws that protect the environment and the safety of food and drugs.
Voters also hoped for a nonpartisan effort to strengthen the middle class, to make America more competitive globally and Americans safer in their homes and on the streets, to fight drugs and improve schools, to assure a secure old age and access to affordable health care.
Yet Republicans have used much of their new power for partisan purposes. They have raked over Waco and Whitewater, have tried to restrict access to abortion and cut funding for public broadcasting, the arts and popular programs like Head Start.
If polls can be trusted, voters are disappointed. In December, the agenda of the new Congress was approved by 52 percent, disapproved by only 28 percent. In just nine months, those figures have reversed. A recent poll shows 53 percent now disapprove of the job Congress is doing, 36 percent approve.
Republican opinion expert Kevin Phillips says the disillusionment is widespread and deep-seated. He cites recent polling in which an all-time high of 76 percent of the people said Washington can't be trusted and as many as 60 percent of voters favored the creation of a third party.
``What we have seen in the last six months,'' according to Phillips, ``is a spurning of the public's priorities - law and order, clean air and water, deficit-reduction that protects Medicare and makes corporations and millionaires pay more, lobby reform, honest campaign finance, term limits and more policy input by public referendum - in order to gratify the very different desires of upper-bracket lobbies and special interests.''
Republicans can still save themselves by embracing a list of priorities like the one Phillips presents above. Voters want a lean government, a reduced deficit and campaign-finance reform. They favor policies aimed at brightening the prospects for the middle class while providing services that individuals can't provide for themselves.
If the majority party doesn't deliver, Phillips believes the 104th Congress could re-enact the history of the 80th. In 1946, a Republican majority was elected. It promptly tried to repeal the New Deal, went too far and alienated voters seeking reform not scorched earth. The upshot? In 1948, Republicans lost 75 House and nine Senate seats and returned to the minority. by CNB