THE GREENING OF THE CLASS OF '94
Airdate: NOVEMBER 13, 1996
TRANSCRIPT
Re-election wasn't easy for the GOP's congressional
"Class of '94." By 1996, the vanguard of the Republican "revolution"
was humbled by political reality and pragmatism. Hedrick Smith reports.
A RealAudio version of this
Hedrick Smith Productions/NewsHour segment is available.
HEDRICK SMITH: One week ago, the voters re-elected
57 Republican freshmen to a second term of office. One got elected to the
Senate, fifteen others are gone--either they lost or they quit--but in this
once brash revolutionary class, more than the numbers have changed. Theres
been a significant shift in mood and in where the class is headed.
REP. RICK WHITE, (R) Washington: I don't think we'll have the same chutzpah
that we had last time--you know, we've been there two years--we're going
to be a little bit more measured, a little bit more cautious, perhaps--
REP. MARK FOLEY, (R) Florida: I don't think
it's going to be this lockstep, this army marching after the leader, saying,
we'll do whatever you want, Newt. It'll be a much more independent voice
saying, hey, wait a minute, I'll go with you on some of these things, but
don't count on me on the whole agenda.
REP. RANDY TATE, (R) Washington: I think there needs to be more bipartisanship.
There needs to be more of an effort to work together instead of just see
them as a number, or just, hey, that's folks from the other party.
HEDRICK SMITH: Two years ago, the Class of 1994 rode into Washington as
the vanguard of a political revolution and quickly made its mark. It was
a class of firebrands and upstart neophytes passionately committed to the
dream of toppling the old political order and dramatically shrinking the
federal government. Over the past two years, the Class of '94 has changed
greatly--reshaped by its bruising encounter with the hard realities of American
politics. This is the story of the greening of the Class of '94. When these
freshmen arrived, they were unlike anything Washington had seen before--more
partisan, more ideological, far more united.
REP. ROGER WICKER, (R) Mississippi: We came to the nation's capital January
4th determined to turn this nation around.
REP. ZACH WAMP, (R) Tennessee: There was a sense of destiny about it. We
were brought here together for a purpose. A lot of people that had never
severed in elected office--fewer lawyers, more real business people from
the heart of America, sent here with that common mission.
REP. JOE SCARBOROUGH, (R) Florida: It's pathetic. It's the way Washington
worked in the past. And it's why we're here to make a difference.
REP. SAM BROWNBACK, (R) Kansas: You've wandered for forty years, and finally
you're moving in. And it was just this huge sense of exhilaration.
HEDRICK SMITH: In the first 100 days, the freshmen happily enlisted as the
shock troops of Speaker Newt Gingrich's political army--helping to pass
nine out of 10 items in the Contract with America. When more experienced
politicians hesitated, the freshmen tried to stamped them into action.
REP. ZACH WAMP: The people spoke clearly last year. They believe they've
been over-regulated, over-taxed and over-litigated. And I rise in grave
concern tonight.
HEDRICK SMITH: They called not only for curbing
the power of federal agencies but for shutting down entire cabinet departments.
REP. SAM BROWNBACK: Agencies such as the Department of Commerce and Energy,
HUD, and Education. This is an absolute need.
REP. MARK FOLEY: This class knew from Day One they could be players, and
that we could, if we stayed together, force our party to go along with our
intentions, rather than be told how to vote and how to act.
HEDRICK SMITH: With the braze self-confidence typical of his class, freshman
Zach Wamp of Tennessee boasted to the New York Times, "The freshmen
are the purest, most worthy group of leaders elected to this body in my
lifetime."
REP. HENRY HYDE, (R) Illinois: That sounds
like a living, breathing definition of hubris.
HEDRICK SMITH: Republican veterans like Henry Hyde of Illinois watched with
growing concern that freshman cockiness and aggressiveness spelled trouble
for Republicans.
REP. HENRY HYDE: I think if you've knocked around a little bit, you've had
your victories and your defeats, your triumphs, and your disappointments,
you're more modest.
HEDRICK SMITH: In fact, over-confidence proved an Achilles' heel for the
freshmen in the biggest political battle of their first year--over what
Republicans saw as their crowning achievement--their plan for balancing
the budget in seven years.
REP. RICK WHITE: The budget process was kind of the apotheosis of everything
we tried to do during our first year. You know, this was a very important
thing. We felt that our entire agenda was wrapped up in this one particular
bill. We kind of had this, in retrospect, kind of false sense of confidence
that somehow, some way we'd get President Clinton to sign it.
SEN. BOB DOLE: It's truly a historic document. It's actually going to balance
America's budget.
REP. NEWT GINGRICH, Speaker of the House: For
the first time in a generation, a Congress has sent to the President a balanced
budget--
HEDRICK SMITH: But when President Clinton rejected their package, Republican
leaders forced a government shutdown, to build pressure on the President
to sign the Republican budget. For the freshmen, what began as a tactic
became a holy crusade.
REP. ANDREA SEASTRAND, (R) California: (December 1995) It's obvious the
President doesn't know what the Americans want. So I'll tell him. The American
people want a balanced budget, and they want it now.
HEDRICK SMITH: After several weeks of deadlock, Gingrich and Senate Leader
Bob Dole saw their public support slipping away, and so they agreed with
Clinton to reopen the government, without realizing a balanced budget. But
freshmen militants brooked no compromise. They torpedoed the deal.
PRESIDENT CLINTON: Today, the most extreme members of the House of Representatives
rejected that agreement. I won't yield to these threats. We should reopen
the government now.
REP. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) South Carolina: We're not going to go anywhere,
and the blame lies on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and nowhere else.
REP. SHERWOOD BOEHLERT, (R) New York: I think,
in a sense, the Speaker created a monster.
HEDRICK SMITH: Senior Republicans like New York State's Sherry Boehlert
saw Gingrich's tactics with the freshmen backfiring.
REP. SHERWOOD BOEHLERT: He effectively used the freshman class in dealing
with the White House by saying--and the Senate, too-- "I can't do such-and-such
because the freshmen are just united, and they won't let me do it."
So by the end, they were able to sort of turn that around and force things
on the Speaker that maybe he didn't want.
HEDRICK SMITH: In one stormy confrontation in a little antechamber off the
Ways & Means Committee room, a group of freshmen cornered Gingrich.
REP. RICK WHITE: It was one of these moments
that you know I'll remember for a long time--you had about 20 freshmen and
Newt Gingrich just absolutely duking it out on what the approach was. And
basically the freshmen were saying, Newt, don't sell us out. Hang in there.
Don't give in an inch.
HEDRICK SMITH: But Gingrich had another problem, Republican unity was fraying
on his moderate flank, he pleaded for Republicans to stay together.
REP. NEWT GINGRICH: A years' work has put us in a strategic position where
they can't beat us now, unless we beat ourselves. And if you'll stick with
us, we will not beat ourselves. HEDRICK SMITH: Home for Christmas, moderates
found a growing public backlash against the Republicans over the government
shutdown. When they got back to Washington, 51 Republican moderates, including
freshmen like Mark Foley of Florida, pushed to reopen the government.
REP. MARK FOLEY: Nobody likes government to be in this kind of chaos. It's
still gridlock, no matter whose fault it is.
HEDRICK SMITH: Are you saying that the confrontation strategy itself was
kind of wrong in conception, it's a wrong way to go?
REP. MARK FOLEY: I don't think confrontation
in and of itself is bad, but you have to decide who you're having the confrontation
with. We were having it with the American public. We're supposed to be having
it with the White House and the Democrat. But all of a sudden we broke out
in a war with the people. We were fighting our won constituents.
HEDRICK SMITH: Still militants like freshman Mark Neumann of Wisconsin held
out against what they saw as caving in to the President.
REP. MARK NEUMANN, (R) Wisconsin: There is a huge amount of pressure at
this point in time to fold under this thing and to give up what we came
here to do, and I think the freshmen in particular have come here basically
with a one-track mind, and that's get a balanced budget using real numbers.
HEDRICK SMITH: With his party dangerously divided, Gingrich saw no choice
but to reopen the government, and he forced that strategy through the House.
It was a painful defeat that left some chastened freshmen talking like the
party veterans whom they had once mocked.
REP. ZACH WAMP: One good thing about every
now and then being knocked down is it keeps you humble, and that--the struggles
that we experienced during those three months, I'll guarantee you, taught
every one of us a lesson: don't beat your chest in this business.
HEDRICK SMITH: And Speaker Gingrich, once the freshman hero, became the
target of their dismay.
REP. GINGRICH: It's a little bit like a marriage. You, you initially have
very high expectations for the honeymoon and then about the third time you're
cleaning the house and you're looking at your bank account, you wonder,
did the--you know, this is not all totally perfect.
REP. MARK FOLEY: You can't necessarily follow the leadership on every issue
if you want to truly represent your constituents.
HEDRICK SMITH: And survive.
REP. MARK FOLEY: And survive. And survival is what this is all about.
HEDRICK SMITH: In their battle for survival this fall, class solidarity
gave way to every member for himself. The tougher the election, the more
the freshmen played down the Republican Revolution and their loyalty to
Gingrich, and wherever they could, they played up their own political independence.
During a debate in a heavily labor district around Erie, Pennsylvania, freshman
Phil English eagerly trumped his vote to raise the minimum wage.
REP. PHIL ENGLISH: And that's why I broke with my part leadership to fight
to raise the minimum wage. It was something we needed to do for working
families in Northwestern Pennsylvania. It was long overdue.
HEDRICK SMITH: In an environmentally sensitive district in the Pacific Northwest,
Rick White made an issue of his moderation on the environment to the editorial
board of the Seattle Times.
REP. RICK WHITE: And starting on May 16th and continuing with the environmental
riders, you know, where they wanted to zero out 17 environmental programs
in a big budget bill, I voted against that three times.
HEDRICK SMITH: To Mark Foley, the key to re-election was putting local priorities
ahead of Republican unity.
REP. MARK FOLEY: I came here and followed the leadership on several EPA
riders that had turned out to be disastrous in my district. People were
offended that I would approach environmental regulation with such an overkill,
if you.
HEDRICK SMITH: That flexibility and pragmatism saved 57 freshmen, including
Foley.
REP. MARK FOLEY: If you pay attention, focus on what matters to them, you,
in fact, will be re-elected by wide margins.
HEDRICK SMITH: But 13 others did not move far enough, fast enough to satisfy
their voters. Some like Jim Longley in Maine and Dick Chrysler in Michigan
were beaten, in part, by a massive media campaign by labor and environmental
groups linking them to N ewt Gingrich.
DICK CHRYSLER: Labor union bosses bought back some seats, including this
one.
HEDRICK SMITH: Others, like Andrea Seastrand
of California, and Fred Heineman of North Carolina lost rematches to candidates
whom they had only narrowly beaten in 1994.
FRED HEINEMAN: Listen, we win some, and we lose some.
HEDRICK SMITH: Still others, like Mike Flanagan of Chicago and Randy Tate
of Washington State, came across this year as too conservative for their
traditionally Democratic districts. Tate had some parting advice for the
winners in his class.
REP. RANDY TATE: I would tell those freshmen, Do what you said you were
going to go back there and do, even if the political heat hits you. You
know, stand up for what you believe in. You know, change Congress. Don't
let it change you. Stick up for your guns even if it gets rough.
HEDRICK SMITH: But today that means different things to different members
of the Class of '94. To conservative budget hawk Mark Neumann, who narrowly
held his seat, it means pressing ahead undaunted.
REP. MARK NEUMANN: The American people tonight said through this election
that they want us to keep on course.
HEDRICK SMITH: You're reading the election as a mandate to resume the revolution?
REP. MARK NEUMANN: Absolutely. Absolutely.
And if we call it a revolution, I think it's just doing what the American
people want done.
HEDRICK SMITH: And do you think there's a loss of taste for confrontation
in the Congress, in your--in your class?
REP. MARK NEUMANN: Not on my part. I mean, I have to tell you, if, if the
question that you're asking me is would I vote for a government shutdown
again, if that's what was necessary to keep us on track to balancing the
budget by the year 2002, the answer is definitively yes. If it means I get
unelected in the next term, then so be it. They can have the seat.
HEDRICK SMITH: But to Florida moderate Mark Foley, another winner, it means
serving the district first, and that requires applying the brakes.
REP. MARK FOLEY: The moderates are going to say to Newt, listen, we have
to be more careful. We let you lead us over a lot of cliffs, and there was
a deep drop. Pushing people to the far right extreme is not a solution,
nor is it a strategy that will win the electoral votes for our individual
members.
HEDRICK SMITH: Still, other victorious freshmen like Pennsylvania's Phil
English and Washington State's Rick White see the election returns as a
public demand for bipartisanship.
REP. RICK WHITE: I think the message voters sent us last night is that we're
going to make you guys work together, whether you like it or not.
HEDRICK SMITH: The returning Class of '94 sound less like brash newcomers
and more like politicians, humbled by hard experience.
REP. ZACH WAMP: If I were in the summer of 1994, and they were saying how
would you draw it up, I wouldn't use the word revolution.
HEDRICK SMITH: Why not?
REP. ZACH WAMP: Because it's too strong. This country doesn't want a revolution.
They want a correction. They want a government that works. They don't want
no government. Revolution would imply no government. We're not going to
overthrow the government. We're going to take this government, we're going
to make it work.
HEDRICK SMITH: Even so, members of the class,
like Sam Brownback, who won Bob Dole's old Senate seat in Kansas, claim
credit for turning around Washington--on welfare reform, and by successfully
pressuring President Clinton to accept their own continuing priority of
a balanced budget.
REP. SAM BROWNBACK: And we really did change
Washington. It's different. I mean, because of the 104th Congress, and the
people coming in, it's a different--it's a different beast--this--this ship
of state's turned, and I can look back on that two years and say, I was
part of something real.
HEDRICK SMITH: Clearly, Washington has also changed the Class of '94, gone
for the most part is the heated rhetoric, the vaunted unity, the aggressive
partisanship of two years ago. Instead, there's a more familiar political
pragmatism, accepting piecemeal progress and some compromise instead of
demanding an instant revolution.
SPOKESMAN: Quite wisely, the founders of our country made it very difficult
to get anything done in a short period of time. They were probably very
smart to set it up that way because it takes a real consensus in our country
if you're ever going to do anything. And while it may be a little painful
for those of us who are in the process. That's probably the way it should
be.