Power vs Finesse – The Real Test of Congressional Leadership
It impresses me that the House Democrats achieved their “6 for 06″ goals with so much GOP cross over. It is relatively less impressive to achieve something like this with only sheer force. But now that the initial agenda is achieved, the ability to legislate moves to a higher standard, that of withstanding debate, conference committees and vetos.
The political talent and skill I am hoping to witness is the ability to collaborate on trans-partisan refinements. Can the minimum wage bill, which can be argued to be more symbolic that practical, be fleshed out with pragmatic reforms on behalf of small business operators? How about relieving small businesses of the responsibility for health care by encouraging staff to own their policies? How about making wage and hours regulations more flexible? How about letting small businesses decide if the best way to serve and keep their customers is to ban trans fats and smoking? Likewise can the modest reduction in college loan interest be leveraged into broader reforms to help lower the cost for more students? Can the Medicare Drug revision be expanded to allow legal purchases from overseas and to allow the relatively smaller Medicare insurers pool together to negotiate with the much larger drug companies?
After the initial agenda of “6 in 06″ I am hoping the Leadership of both parties seizes the rare confluence of bi-partisan pressure and expectations to take on the normally untouchable challenges of Social Security, Tax reform and even non-partisan redistricting reform. These are the kinds of gifts to the American People that keep on giving.
I am looking forward to watching which legislators are merely intractable partisans and which have the ability to help blend visions of opportunity and fairness with fiscally efficient remedies.
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6 Responses to “Power vs Finesse – The Real Test of Congressional Leadership”
Good post Paul, but how could a minimum wage payer afford their own health insurance and why should it be the responsibility of the employer? Until the US can match the health care costs of our competitors, by slashing these costs 50%, we can never compete, and indeed we do not. Attempting to shift the burden to the working poor–again!–simply won’t work.
[...] Hammertime? The Republicans got hammered with up to sixty Republicans joining Dems in the Hundred Hour campaign. “I understand the need for the majority party to make its move and make an impression,’’ [Minority Leader John Boehner] said, “but we’re short-circuiting democracy here.’’ [...]
Funny comment by Boehner, considering the total rout of democracy by the GOP the last 6 years. GOP legislators are crossing the aisle for the most fundamental reason: survival. Boehner will join the defection or get his pink slip soon enough.
Of course I meant “minimum wage worker” in my last comment.
I think the larger point of this post, Paul, is spot-on: true bipartisanship, true blended but visionary solutions are much more difficult than quick, populist fixes. That’s not to diminish the Dem’s accomplishments, especially on the long overdue earmark reform. But you’re right: Now the really tough work begins.
The reason they were so successful, imo, is that they picked a popular (i.e.noncontroversial) agenda and the GOP was well aware that the voting public was watching them as well as the Democrats. They received a lot of criticism for not tackling more difficult issues, but I think it was a very smart move. It showed they are capable of leadership on mainstream issues, and gave them momentum. There’s plenty of time to tackle the more complicated issues of social security, health care and the deficit.
Equally important, they skipped the usual break before the State of the “whatever you want to call it” speech. They got straight to work and have done more in their first 100 hours than any congress in history. By speech time, they have already addressed populist issues the GOP blocked for years and totally eclipsed the “do nothing” 109th Congress. And Bush, continuing his petulant Iraq show, assures that the GOP still has to be identified with a giant failure, while Dems are getting to work on the people’s business.
The point about bipartisanship is important but I believe phony on both sides. Who here expects anything but the same vicious partisanship in the next campaign?