Orange County Voices : SUGGESTIONS FROM THE DEMOCRATS : Bipartisan Congress Should Tackle Aggressive Agenda : A lack of action will only prolong gridlock and invite further public outrage.

When Bill Clinton’s election victory ended 12 years of Republican control of the White House in 1992, The Times ran columns from Orange County Republicans offering advice to the new President. Turnabout is fair play. Now that Republicans have won a majority in Congress for the first time in 40 years, some Orange County Democrats offer their advice.

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Congress must learn how to do what the architects of this great American Democracy intended: to act as the agents of the American people, to find common ground and reach collective decisions for the development of a strong and free nation. This election gave the Republicans a great victory. The mandate given by the majority of Americans is really to both parties: We want lower taxes, less government and more individual or local government control over our daily lives.

Now it is up to the new Congress to decide upon the terms of how best to achieve that mandate. With the Republicans in power, the Democrats should turn over the levers of power in the Congress.

As a member of Congress from Orange County for 10 years, I now view the Congress as a private citizen. We want things to work. Congress must work as a bipartisan institution or it simply won’t work. The Democrats must yield control of what will be on the legislative agenda to the Republicans. Hopefully the Congress will adequately address all 10 of the points in the Republicans’ “Contract With America” as rapidly as possible. The Republicans must allow for reasonable differences to be expressed and resolved through amendments and then vote!

Attitude is everything and the leadership in both parties need some attitude adjustments. Republicans have been the critics and now they must take responsibility. Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who seems destined to be the next Speaker, must change his attitude that he will “cooperate but not compromise” or his legislative programs will be doomed to failure and his speakership to one term.

As most everyone knows, compromise is the essence of democracy and no legislation is passed until a majority of both houses and the President give some form of concurrence. If the word compromise is too difficult to accept, then call it consensus building. In any event, a lack of action only prolongs the gridlock of a “do-nothing Congress” and invites further public outrage.

Liberal Democrats like Rep. Henry Waxman have said the Democrats will have to fight back with the same “obstructionist warfare” that the Republicans have used. This attitude is dangerous, if not fatal, to the Democrats as well as unacceptable to the American people. Apparently these Democrats are in shock from the election, or they simply still don’t get it.

There are some very positive aspects to the change in leadership. There is talk of reorganizing some of the congressional committees, a task that I chaired with limited success in 1979-80. A fresh look at the way Congress works is definitely needed. Would the sky fall if we had a balanced-budget amendment, a line-item veto and term limits? I don’t think so.

On the other hand, the Democrats--and hopefully enough Republicans will join them--should resist any reductions in Medicare or Social Security. Also, they should oppose a repeal of the ban on the sale of assault weapons and increases in defense spending. Any tax cut must be accompanied by a specified equal expenditure cut, and Democrats should try to direct tax cuts to working middle-class people and particularly single-parent households.

The next Congress will have a very aggressive legislative agenda. Much of the agenda should be adopted and the Democrats will not be forgiven by the voters if they become the new critics and fight back with obstructionist warfare. The Republicans who become blindly partisan with an uncompromising agenda will risk both presidential veto and the wrath of the voters, whose political loyalties have undergone political swings of unprecedented proportions in the past few years. As columnist James Flanigan wrote, voters gave the Republicans “a two-year tryout, after which there will be a performance review.”