Lame Duck Session

As December arrives the 111th Congress, still in the hands of the Democrat majority, prepares to pass into history and the Democrat’s future as a decided minority in the House of Representatives.

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Being in the minority in the House is an unfamiliar role for the Democrats and being in the majority is an even more unfamiliar role for Republicans. Playing the part of the opposition party in a House ruled by a Democrat majority has long been the sad role for Republicans and it remains to be seen if they will be able to adapt themselves to play the role as the majority party. While having their leader transformed from being minority leader into the exalted role of Speaker of the House of Representatives - third in line for the presidency - will be the new reality, GOP members may have some difficulty shedding the more familiar role as a perpetual minority. Like a whipped cur when the beating stops, they are apt to find themselves always expecting a resumption of the old ordeal. Aside from having their leader as Speaker, Republicans will assume control of the powerful House committees, their chairmanships and their staffs. It is in these committees that Congress’s real work is done and where all legislation is hatched, shaped and passed on to the full House membership for final action. The party that controls the House is the party that will determine what becomes law after the Senate and White House put their stamp of approval on it and they appropriate the money to finance it. Most important is the power of the House to initiate the funding required to make a reality of a piece of legislation. It is the House that holds the purse strings. Unless they appropriate the funds needed to put a legislative program into action any law will be a toothless tiger. That’s real power, the ability to spend the people’s money as they see fit, and it is a power that House Republicans must wield with the utmost care and sobriety. They must not surrender to the impulse to finance their pet pieces of legislation regardless of the cost. The voters last month expressed themselves loud and clear and Republican lawmakers will be well advised to keep a tight rein on all spending. In my days on the Hill and working for the House, Republicans were all but a hopeless minority utterly dependent upon the crumbs given them by the majority. Although the minority is entitled to have committee staffers, in many cases their numbers were sparse and ill-equipped to have any impact on proposed legislation. I recall one important committee whose Democrat chairman would only permit the minority to have a single minority and a vastly overworked staff member. When Republicans finally won control of the House, Speaker Gingrich went out of his way to give the new minority more than they could reasonably expect especially given their past boorish treatment of the GOP minority. That was a mistake and it will be a mistake of the GOP under Speaker Boehner if he follows Newt’s example that allowed the Democrat minority to run wild. Today’s news deals with a meeting President Obama, who repeatedly showed his contempt for Republicans and now suddenly has an attack of bi-partisanship, as the GOP prepares to take control of the House. One hopes the GOP will refuse to buy the snake oil he’s peddling and goes all out to put stumbling blocks in the way of the Democrats as they flex their muscles in the final month of their misbegotten rule of the House. In January the work of dismantling the house of cards built by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will begin. The GOP would be well advised to use this month to show their determination to undo the Obamanation inflicted upon this nation.