Congress Opening to Busy Day of GOP House-Cleaning

Newly dominant Republicans, poised to grasp the reins of power on Capitol Hill, poured into Washington on Tuesday, vowing to begin their transformation of the Congress and the nation with the pounding of a gavel at noon today.

Following the lead of soon-to-be-Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, House Republican leaders outlined an opening-day agenda that will include votes on a welter of sweeping changes to House rules and on a bill to subject Congress, for the first time in decades, to all the laws it passes that affect the rest of the nation.

Among the proposed rule changes are a requirement for a three-fifths majority to pass tax-raising bills, deep cuts in the number of House committees and the size of their staffs, limits on the terms of committee chairmen and the House Speaker, and a ban on the kind of commemorative legislation that has cluttered the country’s legal dockets with National Pizza and Pasta Week and National Asparagus Day.

“The American people will see more reform in the first day . . . than they have seen in decades,” declared Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) in a briefing for reporters Tuesday morning.

In the Senate, where Republicans now hold a slim majority of 53 to 47, today’s proceedings will be less revolutionary. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) described an opening day in which Democrats and Republicans will follow a courtly tradition of apportioning power on committees and time for future debates. But it may be the Senate in days to come that will face the first showdown on a balanced-budget amendment--a cornerstone of House Republicans’ “contract with America.”

Not to be utterly outdone by their zealous counterparts in the House, Senate Republicans vowed Tuesday to eliminate at least 100 federal programs as a “down payment” of up to $400 billion toward a balanced budget. Led by Thad Cochran of Mississippi, the GOP senators also outlined plans for reducing regulation and turning some government operations over to private business.

Dole also laid out his legislative priorities, including a new anti-crime bill, a line-item veto and an end to the arms embargo on Bosnia.

While an inauguration-like atmosphere reigned at one end of Pennsylvania Avenue, the Democrat installed two years ago at the other end was noticeably absent. President Clinton was in Little Rock, Ark., visiting friends and hunting ducks Tuesday. He planned to spend most of today there.

Meanwhile, Gingrich, who largely engineered the Republicans’ national bid to regain power in Congress after 40 years, flew to Washington from Atlanta Tuesday with 250 supporters. The history professor-turned-politician called today’s opening of the 104th Congress a “historical occasion” and took the opportunity to warn Democrats not to become the party that just says no.

“We’ll make mistakes,” predicted Gingrich, who is expected to be installed as Speaker at noon. “But the key question is what is it the Democrats would do for America, not just how well can they attack Newt Gingrich.”

Although Republicans are determined to transform the Congress, they have also promised to run a family-friendly institution. But on the first day of the session--expected to last close to midnight in the House--the emphasis will be on the transformation. Lawmakers have been encouraged to bring their families to swearing-in ceremonies. But they will quickly get down to “a good deal of heavy lifting,” Boehner said, once the pomp and ceremony end.

On the eve of their Capitol Hill takeover, however, Republicans displayed not only a grim determination to roll back government but a zeal to celebrate their new hold on power.

On Tuesday night, it was party time for the GOP’s 73-member freshman class, who call themselves “majority makers” and plan to wield substantial power in the new congressional order. About 2,800 tickets were sold for a gala honoring new GOP House members, and Gingrich topped the bill.

The omnipresent Georgia Republican was the featured guest at an earlier event--a $50-a-plate “Salute to Newt” dinner thrown by the National Republican Campaign Committee.

But it was the work ahead that preoccupied most Republican leaders on Capitol Hill Tuesday. Hill Democrats, meanwhile, pondered the challenges of their new minority status and found little to like.

Democrats claimed that Republicans were reneging on one of their most important pledges: to open the lawmaking process and give Democrats the right to amend GOP measures on the floor.

In fact, debate will be short on the Congressional Accountability Act, the first piece of legislation that the new Republican leaders expect to bring to the House floor today. And opponents will have no effective way to amend the bill. That “closed rule,” in parliamentary argot, already has some Democrats crying foul.

Even Rep. Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, a moderate Democrat who strongly supports the bill to make all laws apply to Congress, said Tuesday that Democrats are “disappointed” that Republicans will bar amendments. He and others fear that the Republican majority will use their new rule-making privilege, along with their 26-member advantage, to render the Democrats voiceless and powerless on the floor.

While the dispute may involve the most arcane dimension of Congress’ work--parliamentary procedure--analysts said that it could have far larger significance. Once Congress becomes focused on more divisive measures, partisan wrangling over access to and control over legislation on the floor could quickly poison the political atmosphere on Capitol Hill and scuttle chances for any of the bipartisan cooperation both sides have promised.

Republican leaders conceded that the schedule they have devised for consideration of their first bill is restrictive. But they insisted that they cannot allow potential Democratic naysayers to hold their agenda hostage on their first day in power.

“We’re going to open the process wider than anyone . . . has ever seen,” Boehner said. “But we do have to govern, and it’s a judgment call where to draw the line.”

Today’s planned Republican rule changes and the Congressional Accountability Act are expected to draw little organized resistance from Democrats, in part because many of the measures have had broad Democratic backing. But Democrats looking beyond today were not promising meek acquiescence in the Republicans’ planned policy takeover.

A group of Democratic liberals vowed Tuesday to “fight an almost guerrilla war” against Republican campaign promises. Rep. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, Congress’ only Independent, told reporters that he would lead a group of about 30 progressives vowing to fight the GOP’s contract. The group proposed its own two-year legislative package, which calls for more than $100 billion in new federal spending for job, education and training programs.

“Republicans have been given a chance, not a mandate” to solve the nation’s problems, added Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) as he held out the prospect of a partnership between the parties to tackle the country’s problems. “If Republicans squander that chance by moving far to the right, the opportunities for partnership will be lost and the American people will be the losers.”

* CLINTON OUT OF TOWN: President will be in Arkansas as new Congress convenes. A12

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Opening Session of the 104th House

A TENTATIVE SCHEDULE: * Clerk calls the House of Representatives to order at noon. * Chaplain offers a prayer. * Pledge of Allegiance. * Quorum call by states. * Clerk announces quorum and credentials of delegates and resident commissioner’s certificate on file. * Nominations for Speaker. * Manual roll call on election of Speaker. * Clerk announces election of Speaker. * Speaker is escorted to his chair through the center door of the chamber. * The minority leader presents the Speaker. Speaker addresses House. * Speaker takes oath of office. * Speaker administers oath to members and delegates. * Election of majority and minority leaders as well as majority and minority whips are announced. * Officers of the House are elected in separate votes. Officers include the chaplain, sergeant-at-arms and chief administrative officer. * Speaker administers oath to officers of the House. * Senate is notified by resolution that a quorum is assembled and that a Speaker and clerk have been elected. * Speaker appoints committee to notify the President. * A resolution is offered informing the President of the election of the Speaker and clerk. * Unanimous consent request or special rule providing for consideration of resolution adopting House rules. Debate on resolution--30 minutes. ITEM 1: Debate on committee and staff reforms--20 minutes--and vote. ITEM 2: Debate on truth in budgeting baseline reform--20 minutes--and vote. ITEM 3: Debate on term limits on committee chairmen--20 minutes--and vote. ITEM 4: Debate on proxy voting ban--20 minutes--and vote. ITEM 5: Debate on committee sunshine rules--20 minutes--and vote. ITEM 6: Debate on limitations on tax increases--20 minutes--and vote. ITEM 7: Debate on comprehensive House audit--20 minutes--and vote. ITEM 8: Debate on Congressional Accountability Act--20 minutes--and vote. Wrap-up debate on Title II--20 minutes. Vote on motion to commit is possible Vote on adoption of Title II of the resolution. * Vote on final passage of Congressional Accountability Act. * Resolution designating certain minority employees. * Message from the Senate. (Organizational resolution) * Resolution fixing daily hour of meeting. (Chairman of Rules Committee) * Resolution regarding absent members-elect, if required. * Messages and communications to be laid before the House. * Report of committee to notify the President. * Election of committee chairmen and majority members to certain committees. * Speaker makes several general announcements. * Other miscellaneous business. * One-minute speeches and special orders. * Adjournment