1977 CQ Almanac
Carter Energy Bill
Successful Republican filibuster
Efforts to end made by Byrd
Abourezk and Metzenbaum present amendments to continue debate
Byrd started making points of order stating motion to amend aren’t in order
“Steamroller” of amendments killed 33 of them
Metzenbaum and Abourezk gave up after two hours
Speaker Newt – Cheney and Cheney
No Republican majority since 1952
History teacher before
Conservative Opportunity Society
Took advantage of CSPAN coverage- especially during special orders hours
Personal privilege motion to defend comments made in Gregorsky report for
allegedly attacking during special orders
Attacked Jim Wright as Speaker in 1987
1987 budget reconciliation bill vote- “Black Thursday” was defeated.
Reconvened at 315- vote kept open until Democrats got the vote
Investigation on Speaker Wright’s dubious dealings
Gingrich runs for whip
Ethics committee found Wright’s violations and he resigned
Gingrich uses PR to get his name out there
Focused on getting Republicans elected in 1990
Contract with America
Institutional changes after becoming Speaker: less staff, 6 year term limits on
chair positions
Asserted much power over committees
Ambition of Power – John M. Barry
Democrat annual retreat
Wright, Byrd and Bob Dole agreed to let clock expire and pay raise go in
effect
Senate voted 88-6 against pay raise
Wright decided to block any House action and wanted homeless bill passed
Byrd promised to prevent a vote
Showed Wright’s willingness to force things on members that they did not
want
Foley worked on a play to delay a vote in the Senate including the pay raise
Congressional Record – January 7. 1997 Speaker election -> motion to postpone election by constitutional privilege
by Fazio-> motion to appeal clerk by Fazio -> motion to appeal motion by
Boehner -> tabled appeal
Election vote held -> Gingrich beats Gephardt -> Parliamentary inquiry by
Fazio -> winner Gingrich announced
H. Res 3: Committee made to notify president that Congress has a quorum
H. Res 4: Clerk instruct the President the election of Speaker and clerk
H. Res 5: Adopt rules of previous Congress with amendments including drug
testing
Debate, including argument in favor of H Res. 5 by Solomon
H. Res 5 passes
Using Weapons of Fax and Phone, War Team Never Gave Ground
Rich Galen, strategist for Democrats to renew attacks on Gingrich
Gingrich admitted to giving untrue information to ethics committee two
weeks
Gingrich’s attacks on Wright in 1989 used against him
What Consequence for Leach?
Jim leach – Chairman of Banking Committee
Voted against Gingrich during the Jan. 7 roll call of Speaker election
Pressure on Leach to step down as chairman for his attacks on Gingrich
Voted for former leader Robert Michel in 1997 Speaker election
Jan 3 – 27 Republicans unsure; Gingrich then assured 11 votes from those 27
before Jan. 7
Ambition of Power – John M. Barry – chapter on Wright
Wright’s initial allies were Texas delegation and Public Works Committee
Also Dan Rostenkowski of Chicago
Ally Carl Albert became speaker in 1970 and Rostenkowski worked to get
Hale Boggs as majority leader
Rostenkowski wanted chairman of Democratic caucus again
Boggs died and was replaced by Tip O’Neil
Wright used a one on one style to gain support and started aiding members
who needed election help
Wright handed checks to candidates and gave speeches; result was 21
freshmen members
Majority leader vote: Burton 106; Bolling 81; Wright 77; McFall 31. McFall
resigned
Next vote: Burton 107, Bolling 93, Wright 95. Bolling was out.
Bolling and supporters were convinced some Burton supports switched
voted to Wright to eliminate Bolling for the final round (assuming Wright
would be easier to defeat) Wright beats Burton 148 to 147
The Making of Madame Whip - Jan. 2002
Cal Dooley told to support Pelosi for whip by Ernest Gallo
Dooley’s ally Steny Hoyer was also running
Minority Leader Gephardt thinking of president meant whip position could
actually mean party leader
Pelosi believed Democrats would win 2000 allowing Gephardt to become
speaker and leaving the whip position open
John Lewis and Steny Hoyer upset with Pelosi already campaigning in
summer 1999
Lewis made proposal to Hoyer if he agreed to back him
Hoyer lost whip election in 1991 against Bonior
Pelosi entered Congress in special election due to death
Hoyer entered in state senate after lawschool, became state senate president,
and then US senate
Hoyer had served a deputy majority whip and head of caucus
Brad Carson courted by Hoyer and Pelosi before being elected with campaign
contributions
Hoyer’s moderate stances were more in line with Carson
Pelosi raised over double Hoyer’s contributions to Democrat campaigns
Hoyer convinced he had Mike Ross’s support but Ross did not go public
House Democrats started thinking about women voters and thinking too
many men had leadership positions
John Larson called for female leadership
Long time friend of Hoyer was Ken Bentsen who thought Pelosi was also
qualified
Hoyer’s speech focused on colleagues recalling to reflect on their mission
while Pelosi emphasized her performance in fundraising and appeals to
political ambitions
Pelosi won 118 to 95
Willie Brown Ends Era As Speaker – June 1995
Brown ends as state assembly speaker and picks Doris Allen to succeed him
Allen beat Republican leader Jim Brulte for position bid
New position, speaker emeritus, to let Brown keep some power
Allen was moderate and estranged some conservative members
Brown’s Quieter Coup – New Rules Favoring Demos – June 1995
New rules to give Democrats more power even though minority
Allen had power over GOP caucus but not Democrat
Could not appoint Republicans to chairs Democrats have control of their own caucus but limit candidate for speaker
to controlling Republican caucus
Attempt to test Allen’s credentials
Mr. Sam Survives – Cheney and Cheney
Vote in 1941 on extending the war draft
Last vote cast was a tie
A soon as a vote change favored the bill, Rayburn exercised a quick gavel
Demands for reconsideration but all were tabled
Went to college and worked as a janitor and bell ringer
Ran for Texas legislation 3 years later. After 4 years he became Speaker of
Texas house
Ran for Congress in 1912
Received support early from John Garner, Cactus Jack; gave him workspace
and committee assignment help for Interstate and Foreign Commerce
Champ Clark was Speaker at the time; gave Rayburn advice in reading
biographies of country’s great men
Became chairman of Democrat Caucus in 1921
Discouraged after 5 terms since he was no closer to becoming Speaker
Became chairman of Interstate and Foreign Commerce after 18 years
Garner was resigning and Rayburn saw opportunity for Speaker position; did
not get it because Texas had too much power in Congress
New speaker Joseph Byrns died 2 years after elected; majority leader William
Bankhead became Speaker
Rayburn became new party leader but in a time where power of leadership
was questioned due to power of Rules Committee
Bankhead died in 1940 and Rayburn became Speaker
Early years as speaker, Rayburn did not test Rules Committee very much
Became a problem as committee continued to block legislation he wanted to
see passed
Republican majority and Rayburn was convinced into staying minority leader
Rayburn expected to strip defectors of their seniority when he became
speaker again; no move made against Dixiecrats though
Animosity with segregation laws resulted in curbing Rules Committee; any
legislation acted unfavorably on by committee could be acted upon within 21
days by original committee chairman
Rayburn lost influence over Republicans on Rules Committee when friend Joe
Martin lost Republican leadership
Calendar Wednesday used to get education aid bill out of Rules
Rayburn supported JFK vision but Rules Committee was an obstacle
Originally, Rayburn planned on responding by removing some Democrat
defectors from committee, then decided to expand committee to 15 members
Such a change was a change in House rules, requiring vote of all members-
Conservative Democrats and Republicans would vote against it Rayburn originally planned on having a binding caucus, where 2/3 Democrat
support would mean all Democrats had to vote for the change
Changed his mind and had no binding caucus
Some Republicans defected and supported the change
Delay in vote was recommended by Kennedy to muster support; although it
seemed it would not help
Compromise was proposed: Republicans would support five Kennedy bills if
Rayburn backed down
Rayburn refused: final tally was 217 to 212
Legacy: committee power did not move to Speaker, it just dissipated
Leaders and Parties in Congress –
Bob Livingston wins Speaker in 1998 election
Clinton impeachment soon after, Livingston resigned
J. Dennis Hastert elected in Jan. 1999
Two Congresses law-making and representative assembly
Reed Rules due to 1890 Speaker Thomas Reed “no dilatory motion shall be
entertained by the Speaker”
Gingrich – biggest bully Speaker since Henry Clay
Hastert was opposite, low profile an shared role of Speaker with other
Republicans
Speaker presides over House, rules on points of order, announces results,
refer legislation to committees, name lawmakers to conference committees,
control Rules Committee
Before 1890, Speakers were not very senior members
Gingrich known for revamping administrative structure of House
Joseph Cannon: assigned members to committees, appointed and removed
chairmen, regulated flow of bills, and controlled debate. Forced out of Rules
Committee in 1910
Champ Clark: denied authority to make committee assignments
Rayburn: power diffused among relatively small number of chairmen
Effective leadership through leverage over committees and chairmen
Thomas Tip O’Neill: 10 consecutive years as speaker, expanded whip
structure and encouraged junior members to have big roles; party’s national
spokesperson and highly visible
Jim Wright: a lot of individual work to get support, ethics charges by Gingrich,
resigned in 1989
Foley took over in 1989, as a low-key consensus oriented leader that wanted
civility and bipartisan support
Newt Gingrich 1995 – elected after getting 73 new Republican member,
Contract with America, influence over committees which included ignoring
seniority; phase 1: triumph with Contract with America; phase 2:
confrontation leading to disaster; phase 3: cooperative. December 1996, ethics committee confession and 2 weeks later reprimanded by House.
Resigned in 1998 after poor Republican election performance
Denis Hastert 1999 – more bipartisanship and was elected with no prior
leadership post. Role changed when Bush was elected president.
Context and personality style/skills define Speaker
One half to two-thirds of floor votes are considered party unity
Minority party typically wins one third of all party unity votes due to
defections
Party voting has been on the upswing
GOP Liberals Are Key to Tax Cut – March 2003
Bush $726 billion tax cut faced challenged due to liberal Republicans
95% from House and Senate Republicans
Senate passed resolution for $350 billion- Republicans wanted it higher
though
Olympia Snowe voted no due to her pivotal status in the vote
Snowe and Lincoln Chafee stood strongly against bill although Snowe
suspected to succumb to party pressure
Snowe stated $350 million was her ceiling
House, Senate GOP at Odds Over Tax Cut – April
Republicans wanted at least $500 billion
Four Senate Republicans oppose cut over $350 billion
John McCaine, George Voinovich, Olympia Snowe, and Lincol Chafee
Unless they change, result will be $
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