For years, the Republican Study Committee has been Command
Central for true conservatives in the House — a sort of internal
think tank for those more interested in ideas than in careerism. It
will be chaired this year by rising star Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio — and its new
head of communications will be Rep.
Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who is perfectly
suited for the task. Scalise also has been making a name for
himself as an aggressive and effective advocate for energy
exploration and development. In a relaxed interview on the Gulf
Coast during the Christmas break, he had plenty of interesting
things to say, including a clever and accurate way to turn around
an epithet the Democrats and establishment media (forgive me for
repeating myself) like to hurl at Republicans.
Forget Republicans being the “Party of No,” says Scalise.
It is Barack Obama who risks becoming “The President of ‘No’.” It
is Republicans who are pushing a thoughtful and popular agenda, and
the president vetoes or otherwise blocks that agenda at his own
political peril.
“He can’t ignore our ideas anymore, because we are running
things in the House,” Scalise said.
“There is a great opportunity for us as House Republicans
as a majority to restore constitutional principles, even if the
media doesn’t give us a fair shake and Obama has the bully pulpit.
By our actions, we can redefine [the public’s understanding of]
what it means to be a conservative — on spending, on job creation,
and on health care. We can start by repealing Obama’s law and then
replacing it with real reforms.
“We also can pass a real national energy policy — an
‘all-of-the-above’ approach. This president is making our country
more dependent on foreign oil. It’s jeopardizing American energy
security and it is costing many thousands of American jobs. The
administration is punishing the companies that were playing by the
rules and operating safely. It’s what I call a ‘permitorium.’ It’s
real. You can go along the Gulf and see companies losing millions
of dollars and losing thousands of workers all because of this
president’s policies and against the advice of his own scientific
experts who say we should let people go back to work and drill
safely.”
As gasoline prices leave $3-per-gallon behind and rocket
towards the outrageous $4 mark, Scalise is absolutely right that
this is an important — and winning — issue. As a member of the
Energy and Commerce Committee, he is well positioned to carry the
fight. He said he will offer a bill taking discretion away from
regulatory agencies so that they “must,” rather than “may,” allow
offshore drilling off of Virginia and other states that welcome it.
He notes that this would be not just good energy policy, but good
fiscal policy too: Royalties would accrue to the federal
government, to the tune of many billions of dollars, to cut the
national debt.
Aside from energy policy, Scalise also is pushing two
other bills that may appear to be “small ball” in terms of direct
savings, but that could set the tone for a serious reduction of
federal overreach. First, he would “sunset” funding for all
presidential policy “czars” unless they are confirmed by the
Senate. Second, he would change the policy concerning the
disposition of any unused money from individual congressional
offices at the end of each year. Now the money reverts back to the
Speaker’s office, to be used (in effect) at the Speaker’s
discretion. There’s no incentive, therefore, for Members not to
splurge. Scalise would require that unused funds be used to reduce
the national debt. If the media reports on this stewardship of
congressional office funds the way it reports on, say, campaign
finance reports, then congressmen could get popular credit from
their constituents for their thriftiness.
Both symbolically and in practice, says Scalise, “The
country is very hungry for real solutions to our spending problems.
People want to have an adult conversation for how we start solving
these problems. They want to see a step-by-step approach, and
that’s what we intend to give them.”
Methinks Steve Scalise is on the right track.
Conservatives should get used to hearing more from him, and to
liking what they hear.
