Find Your Congress Members:
Who is representing
your state in DC,
and how can you have a say?
Congressional Committees:
What they do and who to contact.
Posted January 3, 1996
Newt Gingrich has gotten rather used to having his way. So after a cadre of rebellious freshmen shot down a Gingrich-supported deal recently that could have ended the politically unsightly standoff between Congressional Republicans and the White House, the Speaker was left looking unusually impotent. "The tail will keep wagging the dog over there," President Clinton taunted.
Indeed, such displays of influence by the Republican class of 1994 are becoming ever more common, and are likely to become more dramatic as the budget showdown reaches a climax. Usually, when we think of the Republican "Revolution" of 1994 that snatched control of Congress from the Democrats, we think of the ubiquitous images of House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole. More than any other members, Dole and especially Gingrich symbolize the newly rejuvenated GOP, and are easily the most powerful individuals in Congress.
But looming over these and other Republican veterans is the will of the 73 House Republican freshmen, whose victories from coast to coast in the 1994 election -- supported by the crafty House Contract With America -- were the key to their party's stunning return to power. While most of them remain largely anonymous to the American public (with infamous exceptions like Rep. Enid Waldholtz, R-UT), staunchly conservative both socially and fiscally and fiercely uncompromising, they have become the most powerful and outspoken group in Congress. They were elected, they feel, with a mandate to reform America's political system, through term and lobbying limits and campaign finance reform, as well as its policies, by cutting taxes, shrinking government and returning federal power to the states. They are guided by a belief that their constituents, largely in the South and the West, threw out the "bums" who were captive to a self-serving Washington political culture that imposed its will -- often wastefully, sometimes destructively -- on the rest of the country. But their opponents charge that the freshmen are a group of unseasoned, intolerant extremists who are derailing government by continually blocking compromise, the essence of politics, and who have not always observed the puritanical political standards they claim to be trying to bring to Washington.
So now with the federal government shut down because of a standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress, the freshmen are banging their drums ever louder. They are insistent above all that there be no compromise on two of the key issues from the Contract With America: balancing the federal budget by the year 2002, and passing a massive tax cut. It was because of their fear that Dole and Gingrich are likely to cut an old-fashioned Washington deal with President Clinton to end the budget standoff without holding fast to these goals that the freshman have applied increasing pressure on their leadership. (Last week freshman Rep. Gerald Weller, R-IL, held up a giant tinfoil lock and key at a press conference to underscore his proposal that Gingrich, Dole and Clinton be locked in a room together until they can come to a budget deal.) Since the Republican's margin of control in the House is so slim -- 19 votes -- Gingrich cannot afford to ignore such a large voting bloc.
The budget standoff is just the highest-profile of many of the House Republican freshmen's recent activities. Here's a roundup of some of their biggest fights, failures and key players to date.
BOSNIA: Almost every Republican in the class of 1994 campaigned against President Clinton. These members don't like or trust Clinton, and they know their supporters feel much the same way. After the budget showdown, no issue since the election has pitted Congress directly against the president as much as the deployment of troops to enforce a peace agreement in the former Yugoslavia, and the freshman have assailed Clinton -- whose murky encounter with the Vietnam draft has been a liability to his military leadership -- and his decision to put American troops in harm's way. There is also a strain of isolationism running through these members, a belief that the U.S. ought not to be "the world's policeman," and should be focused entirely on cleaning up its fiscal shop at home. While Congress was largely poweless to block Clinton's move, look for the freshmen to raise all kids of hell if the mission runs into problems.
TERM LIMITS: After cutting taxes and balancing the budget, this issue was probably more important than any other to the '94 newcomers to Washington. It was also an early defining moments for them, when they saw term limits legislation fail a vote in the House, the only element of the Contract with America that did so. After seeing some Republican leaders oppose the measure, many freshman realized that they would have to redouble their efforts to truly shake up Congress. The term-limits proposal of Rep. Van Hilleary, R-TN was the first freshman-sponsored constitutional amendment to reach the floor since 1897.
ISTOOK AMENDMENT: One of the classic examples of freshman stubbornness, this proposal aims to cut off federal funding to non-profit advocacy groups, like Planned Parenthood and the Wildlife Federation, who proponents of the legislation say are spending too much money lobbying the federal government. In essence, they argue, the government is giving groups money to lobby for more money, although opponents counter it is an unconstitutional effort to muzzle liberal groups who are challenging the GOP agenda. Although known by the name of a second-term member, Rep. James Istook, R-OK, this amendment was cosponsored by freshman Reps. James McIntosh, R-IN and Robert Ehrlich, R-MD and has become a rallying cry for the freshman class (McIntosh, who was given a rare subcommittee chairmanship, is considered one of the brightest young stars in the House). Freshmen have tried to attach the amendment, which makes moderates in their own party uncomfortable, to a myriad of bills, stalling some of them hopelessly with their refusal to drop the issue. The real meltdown will come over a final budget reconciliation bill (the massive budget-balancing package that will likely address tax cuts, Medicare, and Medicaid), which some freshman have said they will not support unless the Istook Amendment is passed.
ENID AND FRIENDS: Life in Washington hasn't been all noble crusades for the freshman so far. In fact, for some of them , life is Washington may be pretty short lived. Several members of the GOP class of 1994 have run into personal troubles recently, a condition that is underscored by the tendency of these members to have been unforgiving, self-styled champions of ethics and morality. Most notable is the story of Waldholtz, who filed for divorce after her husband, Joe, skipped town with $2 million, and who now admits her 1994 election was essentially invalid, because a late spending blitz that rescued her campaign was financed through Joe's trickery. Waldholtz's tear-filled, five-hour press conference in early December seems to have done little to rescue her image in the eyes of Utah voters. Two other members who ran "family values" campaigns, Reps. Jim Bunn, R-OR and Jon Christensen, R-NE, have filed for divorce. Also troubled is Rep. David Funderburk, R-NC, who is accused of changing car seats with his wife to avoid responsibility for a car accident, and Rep. Helen Chenoweth, R-ID, who routinely attacks the federal government but is under investigation by the FEC for taking a shady bank loan. Chenoweth was also part of another high-profile embarrassment for some freshman members: links to militia groups that were revealed after the Oklahoma City bombing in April. Freshman Rep. Steve Stockman, R-TX was particularly criticized after it was revealed that his office received a fax about the bombing from a woman with militia ties on the day of the disaster, and that Stockman had written Attorney General Janet Reno to discourage government raids on Texas militia groups. Rep. Linda Smith, R-WA, has also been accused of being cozy with militia groups, although of late she has won praise for championing campaign finance reform and refusing to accept PAC donations.