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Bob Walker represented the 16th District of Pennsylvania for twenty years. In Congress, he chaired the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, served as Republican Deputy Chief Whip, Chairman of Republican Leadership, Vice Chairman of the Budget Committee, and Speaker Pro Tempore.
America is in a leadership crisis.
Day after day, in failed vote after failed vote, a small group of dissidents within the Republican Party have been able to deny Congressman Kevin McCarthy the presidency.
On Friday, McCarthy came up short on ballots 12, 13 and 14 to determine the House leadership.
America is starting to look like a banana republic.
We even saw a massive walkout by McCarthy loyalists disgusted by Republican Matt Gaetz, who claimed that McCarthy is where he is today because of his knack for receiving millions in special interest donations.
Some reluctant Republicans have hesitantly begun to move in McCarthy’s direction, but even so, it may not be enough.
The majority of the Republican Party is so limited that even a few objectors can derail the process, and the ideas proposed to break the deadlock have not worked.
Substitute candidates for speaker have been nominated, including Representatives Jim Jordan, Byron Donalds and even former President Donald Trump, but the chances of choosing an alternative to McCarthy are slim to none.
There is even talk in the back rooms of the Capitol of plans by some Democrats to vote for McCarthy and in exchange for concessions. But that scenario is almost too ludicrous to consider given the divisions between the parties today.
So how does this deadlock end?
As a former congressman, who has served 10 terms, including several in the Republican leadership, I believe this showdown can not only be resolved, but resolved with a victory, and not just for President McCarthy.
Some reluctant Republicans have hesitantly begun to move in McCarthy’s direction, but even so, it may not be enough.
There is a way that this seemingly shameful exercise in government dysfunction can ultimately fix one of Washington DC’s greatest modern failures: its inability to rein in spending.
To date, McCarthy has made numerous concessions to resisting Republicans.
He offered to make it easier for rank-and-file Republicans to force a vote to remove him and agreed that a political action committee aligned with him will not meddle in the GOP primary.
So far, none of these commitments has been enough to convince a sufficient number of rogue Republicans to give up their fight.
The problem that plagues McCarthy is the belief that he won’t be tough enough on spending, and there are genuine reasons for concern.
Under the Constitution, spending originates in the House and spending is out of control.
The total US deficit stands at $248 billion as of November 2022, up from $191 billion a year earlier.
In December, Biden signed a $1.7 trillion federal spending bill into law and contained within it was $1.7 billion in spending on pet projects for powerful retiring senators.
Allocations in total were $15 billion.
Democratic Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee Patrick Leahy has secured $212 million in appropriations for his state. Richard Shelby, the top Republican, brought home more than $666 million.
“I look forward to more in 2023,” he tweeted. A drunk at the roulette table would care more about the money thrown away.
Congress is preparing a bill that you, your children, your children’s children, and future generations will pay for for decades to come. It’s reasonable to expect a Speaker to use his power to stop this.
We even saw a massive walkout by McCarthy loyalists disgusted by Republican Matt Gaetz (above), who claimed that McCarthy is where he is today because of his prowess in receiving millions in special interest donations.
In December, Biden signed a $1.7 trillion federal spending bill into law and contained within it was $1.7 billion in spending on pet projects for powerful retiring senators.
What McCarthy should do is commit to going back to basics. Longstanding House rules state that money can only be spent after it has been properly authorized.
In other words, spending bills, also known as appropriations, cannot be considered unless there is an underlying law outlining how the money should be spent.
Under the appropriate House rules, committees would debate and approve these budgets. And, if an appropriations bill is introduced to the House with unauthorized money, those sections of the bill can be removed from the measure over a single member’s objection.
The problem for the past twenty years under both Republican and Democratic majorities is that the Speaker’s Controlled Rules Committee has allowed the rule requiring clearance before appropriation to be waived.
McCarthy should commit to not allowing such exemptions.
The question that would immediately arise is: what happens to government departments and agencies that have not been duly authorized?
Bob Walker represented the 16th District of Pennsylvania for twenty years.
For example, the Department of Justice has not had a warrant for decades.
The answer is that the authorization process, which has largely failed except for defense spending, must be revived.
That’s another promise McCarthy could make: insist that the chairpersons of the licensing committees do their jobs.
If authorizations are delayed in the Senate, and they often are, unauthorized departments and agencies could be funded under a rolling year-end resolution that would not allocate more money than had been spent the previous year.
That’s another promise McCarthy could make to ensure ongoing resolutions don’t exceed last year’s spending.
McCarthy’s critic, Rep. Scott Perry, who has dropped his opposition, tweeted: “We are in a Reagan moment: ‘trust but verify’.” The devil is in the details, and we’ll take our time to make sure it’s right, not easy. One way or another, the status quo must go.
Representative Perry is right.
The bottom line is that the House’s underlying rules allow for an enforceable spending process. By endorsing that process and going back to basics, McCarthy could strengthen his bid for president and strengthen governance in the House.
Coalitions with the Democrats or concessions to the dissenters won’t make McCarthy a speaker, but going back to basics might.
And in the process, he can restore legitimate power to the representatives of the people and restore fiscal sanity to the American government.