Conservatives, ahoy! - Republican leaders in Congress

National Review, Feb 15, 1993 by Vin Weber

Washington, D.C. So intense has been the public debate about the future direction of the Republican Party that few have paid proper attention to the first decisions actually made by the party, or at least by its congressional component. The House of Representatives was designed to reflect more accurately than other branches of government the real mood of the people. It's thus worth noting that when House Republicans convened in early December to choose their leadership for the coming biennium, they sent a strong, consistent message about the party's direction.

Republicans in the "People's House" elected four new leaders, all of them straight out of the school of activist conservatism that typified the Republican Party during the Reagan years. In so doing, they refused to follow the script of those demanding a choice between the "Christian Right" and "social libertarianism," instead calling Republicans "back to the future" of the Reagan coalition.

The new leaders, in order of seniority, are Henry Hyde of Illinois, chairman of the Republican Policy Committee; Dick Armey of Texas, chairman of the Republican Conference; Tom DeLay of Texas, secretary of the Republican Conference; and Bill Paxon of New York, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

As individuals they are bright, aggressive, personable, and fiercely independent. As a group they constitute, along with returning leaders Newt Gingrich of Georgia, Duncan Hunter of California, and Bill McCollum of Florida (respectively Minority Whip, Research Committee Chairman, and Conference Vice Chairman), the most conservative leadership group assembled in either congressional chamber in thirty years.

Although Armey technically outranks the other newcomers (the official pecking order puts the Conference Chairman third after the Minority Leader and the Whip), in reality Hyde brings the most stature to the table. To the public, Henry Hyde is best known as Congress's most eloquent defender of the unborn, but within the Congress his image is much broader and the respect accorded him is unsurpassed. Indeed, his election without opposition best indicates the stature Hyde has earned as the House's most riveting orator. His leadership in opposing Communism in Central America throughout the 1980s showed the judgment and strength of a man who, under other circumstances, would surely have been on everyone's presidential shortlist.

After Newt Gingrich was elected Republican Whip in 1989, putting him in position to succeed Bob Michel as Minority Leader when he retired, Hyde hinted that he himself would be a candidate for that post. Had Michel's retirement occurred in 1990, or even 1992, Hyde might well have been the odds-on favorite for Leader. But if Michel retires in 1994, Gingrich will by then have had six years in the number-2 position. Last year, Gingrich, running unopposed for re-election as Whip, began asking for commitments in a race to succeed Michel. By 1994, Gingrich may be unbeatable.

Meanwhile, for the longer term, much power among House Republicans has shifted to Texas. Dick Armey of Fort Worth and Tom DeLay of Houston both have the potential to influence Republican politics far beyond the House.

Armey is a sort of one-man think tank in cowboy boots. A native of Cando, South Dakota, he holds a PhD and taught college economics before coming to Congress after the 1984 election. He drives a pickup truck to his Capitol office and swears that he prefers fishing to politics.

But within the Congress, Armey has done more than anyone since Jack Kemp to provide conservative leadership on economic issues. As Republican leader of the Joint Economic Committee, he challenged liberal orthodoxy on issues that matter far more than they are understood. His assault on the static-analysis models used by Congress and the Executive branch to predict the effects of changes in tax policy drew, at best, yawns from most of his colleagues. And yet it is precisely the supply-side rejection of this model that led to the success of Reaganomics in the early 1980s, just as Bush's return to it led to the disastrous 1990 budget deal.

Most observers gave Armey little chance last fall when he announced his challenge to incumbent Conference Chairman Jerry Lewis of California. But his four-vote victory assures that House Republicans will again be fed a steady diet of ideas and analysis - mainly economic - from the position held by Jack Kemp throughout the Reagan years.

If Armey can supply the ideas, Tom DeLay can probably supply the votes. DeLay, who was a successful small-businessman before coming to Congress, has for years been the leading conservative strategist and vote-counter in the House. His forte is building coalitions with grass-roots business and conservative organizations, and despite his strong ideological viewpoint, he is well liked by Democrats as much as by Republicans.

Rounding out the leadership is Paxon, who was first elected in 1988 to the Upstate New York seat vacated by Jack Kemp.