Of course, with the GOP set to use three times the number of filibusters, not all is sunshine and puppies.They may be bogged down in debate over children's health, appropriations and Iraq, but nobody can say the House isn't prolific in its most fundamental duty -- voting on legislation.
The House last week held its 943rd roll call vote of the year, breaking the previous record of 942 votes, a mark set in 1978. The vote was on a procedural motion related to a mortgage foreclosure bill. When the House adjourned on Oct. 4 for the long weekend, the chamber had reached 948 roll call votes, putting Democrats on pace to easily eclipse 1,000 votes on the House floor in 2007.
Last year, the Republican controlled House held 543 votes, and for historical comparison, the last time there was a shift in power in Congress, Republicans held 885 roll call votes in 1995. The Senate, which has held 363 votes this year, isn't on pace to break any records, but has already surpassed the 2006 Senate mark of 279 votes.
Just what this all means is up for debate. Democrats say they're living up to promises made during the 2006 campaign, when they said they would worker harder, remain in session more days and hold more votes on American priorities.
“Not only did we finish the work the previous Congress left undone, we advanced our new direction agenda, with nearly 70 percent of our key measures receiving significant bipartisan support," said Kristie Greco, spokesman for House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.).
Republicans who have tried to attach the "do nothing" label to the Democratic Congress, of course, have a different take on the record.
"Never mistake activity for achievement," said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), attributing the quote to UCLA basketball legend John Wooden.
Of course, this schedule of actually working has upset some people.
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Let's play the tiniest violin for those who are upset they can't clock in a three day workweek, take huge kickbacks, and fly around on someone else's dime.House Republicans say there is a growing list of reasons to call for congressional career quits, from tighter travel restrictions to lobby-reform requirements and the likelihood of continuing minority status.
Yet only nine members of the GOP caucus have so far announced retirements. If you were a House Republican, would you run for reelection?
Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), 61, one of those who announced he’s packing it in, said that the Democrats’ new five-day workweek made traveling back home that much more difficult.
“I do think the schedule and the flying is a huge pain for people, particularly those who are from the Midwest or even further West,” he said, adding that it’s “probably the worst part of the job.”
“I think that has played into these retirement announcements,” said the seven-term congressman from Peoria.
Former Rep. Martin Frost (D-Texas), who chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 1996, said it’s tough to stop retirements. “You have to constantly try to prop people up,” he said. “You lose staff. Sometimes you lose committee assignments. You lose committee staff.”
To a member in the minority, a number of options are attractive, he said, including runs for governor or the Senate or a more lucrative career lobbying. “The ink was hardly dry on [Pete V.] Domenici’s statement before [Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.)] jumped in the race,” said Frost, referring to the Republican senator from New Mexico who recently announced his retirement.
Money comes into play, too. “That’s a real issue for a lot of members who are concerned about planning for their own retirement or who may have children who haven’t gone to college yet,” he said.
In 1996, there was no mass exodus of congressional Democrats after the party lost the majority in 1994 following 40 years of dominance, which impressed long-serving Republicans. “We thought there would be [a mass departure], but there wasn’t,” said Republican Rep. Sam Johnson, a nine-term Texan who turns 77 this week. Twenty-eight Democrats and 21 House Republicans left the House in 1996.
This time could be different, he said, citing travel restrictions and lobbying reform. “We’re prevented from having a hamburger with someone,” he said. “You can’t take a private plane anymore. ... I feel for the guys that are way out there” on the West Coast or in the Midwest, said Johnson, who can catch a nonstop flight to Dallas.
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) is one of the guys Johnson is feeling for. Simpson, 57, connects through Salt Lake City and often leaves on Sunday to get to Washington on Monday. Getting back home, though, is the real problem.
Recently, the airlines determined that members of Congress could no longer reserve more than one flight at a time. Because the general public can’t do the same thing, the privilege was deemed a gift under the new lobbying reform guidelines.
That makes life tough for people like Simpson, in his fifth term, who rarely knows exactly when the work will end in Washington. “I don’t have a plane going to Idaho every two hours,” he said. “Those flights fill up if I don’t book a week in advance.”
Simpson said he has lobbied leadership to create an exemption to the lobbying rules, saying that the new rule could drive more members into retirement. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) jointly moved to allow the multiple reservations, but the ethics committee has yet to make a final decision. Simpson also agreed with Johnson that lobbying reform would be a factor. “We’re basically all going to be felons. I guarantee you every one of us will accidentally break one of those rules at some point,” Simpson said.
Florida Rep. Adam Putnam, 33, the third-ranking House Republican, agreed. “It raises the stress factor that you would get tripped up on something small.”
Whether intentional or not, the new five-day workweek, cited by Republicans as a factor in retirement decisions, is most harmful to the GOP. “The net result is that it’s harder on members in rural districts than ones in urban areas with large airports. If you live in Boston, you can catch a flight every half-hour,” Putnam said. Urban districts tend to be Democratic, whereas rural ones are Republican.
There are exceptions, though. “Their majority-makers are in those rural areas,” said Putnam, referring to the class of freshmen that helped sweep Congress for the Democrats, “and they’re the vulnerable ones, the ones that need to be home with their constituents. They need to be able to know for certain they can make the Rotary Club meeting.”
Putnam said he looks back at the 1996 cycle as an example of a party having the fortitude to stick around. “Look at guys like Dingell and Rangel; they’ve persevered,” he said, referring to Democratic Reps. John Dingell of Michigan, 81, and Charles B. Rangel of New York, 77. The two — along with Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman of California, 68, and James L. Oberstar of Minnesota, 73 — wandered for 12 years in the minority after the GOP takeover of 1994 cost them chairmanships.
Frost said his effort to combat retirements started soon after the landslide losses in 1994, as he sought to convince party members that they’d soon return to the majority. “We had a buddy system. We took all potential retirees and we assigned them to some of the more senior members of Congress and asked them to talk to them and urge them to stay,” he said.
It’s a move that won them admiration from across the aisle. “Now they’re reaping the fruits of the benefit of being the majority party, because they’re chairing these big, important committees,” said LaHood. “These guys have been around a long time, and they hung in there, and obviously some of our members aren’t willing to do that,” he said, adding that “a couple” of senior Republicans will likely retire “later this year.”
Rangel, though, said the credit for his endurance goes to his own misplaced optimism. “I couldn’t believe we had lost. I went to bed, and when I woke up I thought it was a bad dream. I convinced myself every two years that we could win” back the House, he said. “I worked very closely with [then-Minority Leader Dick] Gephardt, and he believed it, too.”
Still, Rangel thinks it’ll be worse for the Republican Party. “We may have been overly optimistic, but hell, I don’t remember it being this bad,” he said of the GOP’s future, citing an unpopular president, a war going badly and no exciting presidential candidates. “What was the word Carter used to describe the country?”
That would be “malaise.” Putnam, acknowledging that it’s “no fun to be in the minority,” showed a little of it himself when talking about possible retirements. “Wait. Is Simpson retiring?” he asked this reporter, who told him that he was not. “Good. I thought I had a new one to worry about. And Sam Johnson’s running again? Good.”
“I’ll give you a list of people to ask and you can tally them up for me,” he said.
