Republicans who hope to regain majority status in Congress and return to the White House will soon have significant opportunities to demonstrate that they really have learned the bitter lessons of defeat.
The GOP has lost the presidency, a dozen or so seats in the Senate and more than 50 seats in the House in the last two elections. Those losses resulted from GOPers overdosing on federal spending, including especially the highly publicized corrupt earmarked kind, and their shameless failure — shared with George W. Bush — to deliver on repeated promises to shrink government and make it more efficient.
Voters understandably stopped believing Republicans. As with the unfaithful husband seeking to be restored to a wronged wife’s trust, GOPers will only be believed when their actions match their words.
Among the opportunities for congressional Republicans to demonstrate genuine change are decisions on who gets coveted positions on two key committees, Senate Finance and House Appropriations. Committee assignments are very much inside baseball, but in this case the outcome will tell much about whether GOP leaders get it or are still playing political games.
Sen. Jim DeMint has made clear his desire to go to the finance panel, and it is up to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to decide the issue. McConnell would do well to endorse the South Carolinian. DeMint is currently head of the Senate Steering Committee and has been an articulate leader in exposing and opposing the spending culture that creates credibility-sapping scandals like the “Bridge to Nowhere.” The finance panel has jurisdiction over taxation, health care, trade and entitlement reform, exactly the issues where DeMint’s outspokenness can do the GOP the most good.
On the House side, as many as half a dozen GOP seats on the powerful Appropriations Committee will need to be filled. Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona has announced his desire to go to the committee. Flake has been a tireless opponent of earmarks and has often succeeded in forcing votes by the House on individual measures despite strong opposition among both his Republican colleagues and Democrats who control the chamber. But House Minority Leader John Boehner — who has the most say on these assignments — will be sadly mistaken if he thinks merely putting Flake on Appropriations will be sufficient. Boehner has unsuccessfully pushed his caucus for two years to give up earmarks.
Filling all of the available GOP seats on the appropriations panel with earmark opponents will let Boehner vividly demonstrate that he has the courage of his convictions. That’s called leadership.
