New Hampshire Lawmakers Say House Plays Significant Role
By Daniel Remin
WASHINGTON — When President Bush needs something from Congress these days, he has to negotiate with the Senate, where Democrats and moderate Republicans have the power to block White House proposals. That has left some House members feeling as if they don’t matter.
But not New Hampshire’s two Republican House members, Charlie Bass and Jeb Bradley.
“I don’t feel irrelevant at all,” Bradley, a freshman, said in an interview.
Bass and Bradley said the House has played a crucial role in passing key legislation, and they do make a difference.
“I think that the House has set the agenda for the last 10 years in a very significant manner,” Bass said in an interview. “Big changes occurred in the manner in which this country is governed as a result of what Congress has done and, hopefully, will continue to do.”
The House, which is under strong Republican control, still often works with the White House to set the agenda. But because Republicans have only a two-seat majority in the Senate, and because Senate rules often require them to team up with some Democrats to get anything done, the balance of power has shifted to that less predictable chamber.
“There’s a lot of truth to the notion, almost inevitably, that the House has been very reliable for the president,” said Norm Ornstein, a congressional expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a nonpartisan, public-policy think tank in Washington. “To make it that way,” he said, Bush and Majority Leader, Tom DeLay, R-TX, “have had to lean heavily on many of their members. But they’ve made it happen.”
Ornstein said Bush has to negotiate with the Senate, while moving the House “as far to the right” as he can to gain bargaining leverage. Because House Republicans know they’re “going to vote with them no matter what, people feel as if they’re being taken for granted, pushed around and treated as fodder,” he said. “It’s not surprising there’s some pushback now. There’s kind of a plea for a little more recognition of who they are, maybe even a little more sweet-talking.”
Among other things, Bass said, the House has led the way to pass Bush’s first round of tax cuts (though others are still under debate); the No Child Left Behind Act, which increases academic standards in schools; and legislation that tripled spending for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which provides children with disabilities with more educational resources and access to schools.
Bass credited House Republicans for many changes made after the GOP took control in 1995.
“The concept of a balanced budget,” Bass said, “the concept of rebuilding our defense, being proactive in times of economic recession rather than just sitting on one’s hands and fretting, which usually happened prior to 1995, is all a result of Congress’ willingness to be aggressive in setting the agenda. (A) Medicare prescription drug plan has come out of the House twice now. That’s not how I define irrelevant.”
Bradley said he is “extraordinarily grateful for the opportunity to have a role to play in trying to move our nation forward to improve our national security to win the war on terrorism.”
Bradley added that he believes the top issue facing the government now is how best to keep Americans safe. Other significant issues include stimulating the economy and reforming health care.
Ornstein also said that the House is not totally unimportant.
“All the tax bills originate there (the House), and they have had some significant role, so it’s not as if they’re completely powerless,” he said. “But the fact is the attitude of this White House is that the policies emanate from the White House, the priorities emanate from the White House. Members of Congress and the Republicans in the leadership are their field lieutenants and their field generals. After awhile, many of them at least begin to want to assert their own independence.”
Because House Republicans have strong control over the chamber – there are 229 Republicans, 205 Democrats and one independent — House Democrats have little say over what happens there, according to Ornstein. In the Senate, Republicans enjoy only a slim majority – they have 51 of 100 seats — so Democrats have more leverage.
“The Democrats have felt completely marginalized in the House by the Republicans,” Ornstein said. “That’s even true (of) the so-called ‘blue dogs,’ the centrist or more conservative Democrats. Now more than ever, Republicans don’t need them. They can do it all on their own.”
Bass and Bradley said that, for the most part, House members are united.
“I think we’re very united, with a few problems,” Bass said. “We’re united on our supplemental budget, on support of the troops and on support of this president. I don’t think there’s any reason why we can’t disagree on other things that don’t relate to national security.”
(Daniel Remin is an intern with the Boston University Washington News Service.)
Published in The Manchester Union Leader, in New Hampshire.
