Parts Of Republican Revolution Fade With Age

USA Today ^ | January 20, 2003 | Andrea Stone

[Red Jones]

Parts of Republican Revolution fade with age Mon Jan 20, 7:23 AM ET

Andrea Stone USA TODAY

WASHINGTON -- Eight years after wresting control of the House of Representatives, the party that waged the ''Republican Revolution'' has become somewhat less revolutionary.

House Republicans have grown less enamored with term limits. They have reversed some ethics reforms and rules aimed at budget discipline. Their leaders have tightened their grip on power.

As they begin their fifth two-year congressional session in control of the House, some of the practices Republicans attacked in 1994 after 40 years of Democratic rule don't seem so bad to them after all.

''Republicans have gone native,'' says Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey. ''They've got a raging case of Potomac Fever. Having won the battle, they don't want to relinquish power.''

The clearest example of that came in the opening moments of the 108th Congress this month. House Republicans forced through nearly 30 rules changes, many of which eased tight restrictions they imposed on themselves in 1994. Among the casualties was the eight-year term limit imposed on the House speaker when Newt Gingrich, the revolution's leader, held the job. Now, House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois can serve indefinitely.

Longtime Congress-watchers aren't surprised that Republicans are doing things they once condemned. ''They are coming around to the realization that that's what majorities do,'' says Norman Ornstein, a congressional expert at the American Enterprise Institute. ''They were naive.''

Many of the original authors of the GOP's ''Contract with America'' platform in 1994, including Gingrich and his top deputy, Dick Armey, have left office. Gingrich could not be reached for comment. Those who remain feel empowered by November's elections, when Republicans won a Senate majority and widened their House edge.

''It's hard to continue to revolt when you're in charge,'' says Rep. Deborah Pryce of Ohio, head of the House Republican Conference.

Many of the policy goals of the revolution -- cutting taxes, for example -- remain part of the GOP agenda. But there are signs that in other areas the revolution is waning:

* Term limits. Many of the Republicans elected in 1994 pledged to limit their time in office, most often to six years. But they failed to pass a constitutional amendment to limit congressional terms, and in recent years, many Republicans have discarded the notion that the country needs ''citizen lawmakers.''

At least 10 current House Republicans have reneged on term-limit pledges. Among them: George Nethercutt of Washington state, who unseated Speaker Tom Foley, D-Wash., with a vow to limit himself to three terms. Nethercutt is now in his fifth term.

Republicans are demonstrating ''a belief that they are going to stay in the majority,'' says Thomas Mann, a political analyst at the Brookings Institution think tank. ''They have to think less as revolutionaries and more as a party capable of drawing on experience and leadership to reach objectives.''

In one of their first orders of business after taking control, House Republicans voted to limit the speaker's term to eight years and committee chairs to six years. Pryce calls the speaker's term limit ''a 'Newt-ism.' It was not part of the Contract with America.''

Stacie Rumenap, executive director of U.S. Term Limits, an advocacy group, says the change shows that Republicans have ''become part of the insider system.''

The limit on committee chairmanships remains. However, leaders made an exception for Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., who was allowed to continue as head of the Intelligence Committee beyond his six-year limit.

* Ethics rules. Strict ethics rules imposed in 1995 have been eased. A new, so-called pizza rule makes it easier for lobbyists to deliver food to congressional offices. It gets around a $50 gift limit set by Republicans five years ago, when they relaxed an earlier rule forbidding all gifts, by allocating the value of the food against the gift limits of all who eat it.

A second change reverses a 1995 rule that discouraged lawmakers from attending charitable events at resorts. Republicans had assailed those trips as free vacations. Junkets that lobbyists pay for are still forbidden.

Armey, now with the advocacy group Citizens for a Sound Economy, jokes that the travel change ''can be put down to the commitment, energy and zeal of the golfers' caucus.''

Matt Keller, legislative director of the watchdog group Common Cause, predicts the rules changes will presage other Republican moves to loosen ethics rules and consolidate power. ''They've been chomping at the bit,'' he says. ''You're going to see extreme arrogance on display . . . the same thing that brought down the Democrats.''

Pryce calls the changes ''fine-tuning'' but agrees they could be seen as hypocritical. ''Some might say lessons have been learned,'' she says. ''Not all the things (the Democrats) did was wrong.''

Among them, apparently, are rules that make it harder for the minority party to propose alternative legislation or move its own bills. The new rules include changes that will strengthen the majority party's power to control the policy agenda.

* Balanced budget. Republicans cited an ''out-of-control'' Democratic-led Congress in their 1995 call for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. But the war on terrorism and President Bush (news - web sites)'s deep tax cuts have silenced the GOP on the issue of deficit spending.

Last week, Republicans reinstated a rule scrapped in 2001, when the federal government was running a budget surplus. The rule allows the House to raise the limit on the $6.4 trillion public debt without holding a separate, and potentially embarrassing, vote.

''We find ourselves in very unusual times. A time of war, a recession,'' Pryce says. ''There was a decision to take that one back.''

Rep. Martin Frost of Texas, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, says he knows why. ''Now they've decided the ways Democrats were doing things when we were in control is OK,'' he says. ''They want the perks back. The revolution has grown old.''

[RJCogburn]

Good post, Red.

For most pols of either party, it really is about power and percs.

At least 10 current House Republicans have reneged on term-limit pledges.

We call it a lie

[Dec31,1999]

bump.