LeMieux: Time for congressional Republicans to lead

Conservatives across America are mad as hell at Washington.

Having elected a Republican-controlled Senate last year to go along with a Republican-controlled House, conservatives expected Washington to change. They expected Republican leadership to send principled legislation to the desk of the president to grow the economy, balance the budget, reform entitlements and the tax code, repeal and replace Obamacare, and reduce the staggering national debt.

No one was under the illusion that President Barack Obama would sign all of those measures, but conservatives at least hoped the American people would be presented with an alternative public policy agenda — an agenda based on limited government, economic opportunity and fiscal responsibility. Instead, congressional leadership has limped along, seemingly afraid to stir the pot.

The 113th Congress, which covered 2013-14, enacted less than 300 laws, a fraction of the number passed by the so-called "Do-Nothing Congress" named by President Harry Truman. House Republicans bristled at the do-nothing moniker last year, blaming Senate Democrats under Majority Leader Harry Reid for failing to take up House-passed measures in the Senate. This year, Republicans control both branches of Congress and they have no one left to blame. While Senate leadership has done a better job by establishing regular order and at least passing a budget for the first time in six years, not much else has seemed to change.

What should congressional Republicans do?

If history is the best teacher, let's look back 20 years.

Having run on the Contract for America in 1994, Republicans took control of Congress in 1995 for the first time in 40 years. With the contract as their blueprint, House Republicans led by Speaker Newt Gingrich passed more legislation in their first 100 days than any Congress had since FDR launched the New Deal. The House took 302 roll call votes in those first 100 days, with 299 initiatives passing. The overall margin of support, as reported by the Heritage Foundation, averaged at 70 percent even though House Republicans only held a 12-seat margin over Democrats.

The measures passed included welfare reform, reductions to the size and scope of the federal government and tax reform. Many of the initiatives, having passed the Senate, were presented to President Bill Clinton. The result was twofold: One, conservatives drove the public policy agenda, and the American people knew it. In response, Clinton had to remind the American people in April 1995 that he was still relevant because the Constitution made him so. Two, Clinton, to his credit, signed some of the measures like welfare reform and then took credit for them.

This now-famous "triangulation" strategy helped to propel Clinton to a second term. In the mid 1990s, Congress balanced the budget and, due in part to a functioning government, the American economy boomed.

Leadership, especially in politics, is about being on offense. On offense, you can dictate the agenda, much like the Nancy Pelosi/Harry Reid Congress did in 2009-10. Like it or not, their enactments of Obamacare and Dodd-Frank financial regulation were significant legislative wins for progressives.

The failure of congressional Republicans to lead since taking the majority resulted in John Boehner's resignation as House speaker last week. House Republicans are constantly harangued by their constituents as to why a Republican-controlled Congress is not getting more done. "Change the leadership" is the call heard time and time again by members during trips home to their districts. With the upcoming vote on the continuing resolution to fund the government, a vote of no-confidence on Boehner's speakership also loomed. Republicans were not going to vote to walk the plank for Boehner again. Boehner took the honorable path of resigning instead of putting his caucus members on the line with another unpopular vote in support of him.

Spend your days with Hayes

Subscribe to our free Stephinitely newsletter

Columnist Stephanie Hayes will share thoughts, feelings and funny business with you every Monday.

Loading...

You’re all signed up!

Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Explore all your options

What congressional Republicans must now do is lead. Take a page from 1995. Pass significant legislation on jobs, the economy, taxes, the budget and the debt. Hold news conferences, tell the American people what you are doing and why you are doing it. Present a competing and compelling vision to the American people, and make congressional Democrats and the president respond. A failure to do so will cost House members their jobs, may result in an angry outsider as the Republican nominee for president, and may further split a Republican Party that is struggling to unify.

With a new speaker, the time for congressional Republicans to act is now.

George LeMieux served as a Republican U.S. senator, governor's chief of staff and deputy attorney general. He wrote this exclusively for the Tampa Bay Times.