(3 of 10)
This week the real work starts. From the moment the House convenes on Wednesday, Jan. 4, and through the next 99 days, Gingrich and his new Republican majority will be rushing to pass the 10 major initiatives they spelled out in the contract. "We're going to do marvelous things in '95," Gingrich promised last week. "Come watch us on the fourth; it will be the longest, most working opening day in the history of the U.S. House, and you're going to love it." First on their agenda -- indeed, within minutes of taking their oaths of office -- they will begin changing how Congress does business, starting with cutting the number of committees and their staffs by one-third. From there, in a series of rapid-fire votes with 20-minute intervals of debate, the House will put new budget procedures into place; put six-year term limits on committee chairmen; ban members from voting by proxy at committee sessions they do not attend; require committees to open their meetings to the public; require a three-fifths majority to approve tax increases; hire an outside auditor to hunt out waste, fraud and abuse; and pass a bill requiring Congress to live under the laws that it passes for the rest of the country, like occupational health-and-safety and antidiscrimination statutes.
Fully 80% of the legislation called for in the contract must first pass through two House committees: Judiciary, which handles constitutional and crime-related issues, and the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, which will also handle welfare reform and Medicare cuts. Enough hearings are scheduled for three C-SPANs.
The balanced-budget amendment will be the first major piece of legislation to come to a vote in the full House. Incoming Judiciary chairman Henry Hyde of Illinois expects to have the bill out of his committee next week and ready for floor action by Jan. 19. It will be followed in short order by a bill giving the President a line-item veto and the first round of budget cuts.
From there, however, the picture becomes murkier, as the bills head to the Senate -- the place where, as Dole puts it, "there's going to be some reality set in." The House will be able to pass the balanced-budget amendment in a matter of hours, for instance, but debate in the Senate could easily take weeks. Indeed, the contrast will be evident from the opening day, on which the Senate's business will be limited to the traditional swearing-in ceremonies and receptions for visiting constituents. By the end of the week Dole hopes to have begun debate on the bill applying Congress's laws to itself -- if, that is, he can manage to convince every single Senator to go along with the idea. On that bill, as with others, if anyone balks it will take a 60-vote majority to move ahead. The filibuster was a weapon the Republicans employed routinely when they were in the minority. Before long, Dole observes dryly, "I assume the Democrats will have discovered you only need 41 votes to hold up things." Senate minority leader Tom Daschle insists that his 47 Democrats are eager to cooperate where they can, but adds, "We're not going to be at all reticent about confronting the Republicans with whatever means we find prudent."