Mullings: An American Cyber-column By Rich Galen

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Daschle: super-majority Leader

Monday, December 10, 2001

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Here was a telling graf in Saturday's Washington Post, by Glenn Kessler, on why there will likely not be a stimulus package before Congress adjourns for the year:

"The latest breakdown occurred after House Republicans learned that Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) had assured his caucus last week that no deal would be cleared unless it won the approval of two-thirds of the 50 Democratic senators and one independent."

In most cases, not all - impeachment comes to mind - a majority vote on the floor of the House or the Senate carries the day.

You may remember that the Senate is pretty evenly divided: 49 Republicans. 50 Democrats. One Independent.

In most cases, not all - cloture comes to mind - if the GOP can hold all of its members and convince just two Democrats (or one D and the I) to see the way of light and truth then they will win the vote.

However, under Senate rules the Majority Leader holds extraordinary power to decide what will come to the floor and when.

What Majority Leader Tom Daschle has done is to promise the most liberal side of his caucus that they hold veto power over the entire U.S. economy. Under the Daschle rule, it takes only 18 Democrats - not 51 - to block the stimulus package.

This, in Washington, DC is known as "simple fairness."

This, in the rest of the known universe, is known as "playing politics."

Tom Daschle is the senior Democrat in the nation. Democratic National Chairman Terry McAuliffe is not. House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt is not.

Tom Daschle has started a PR offensive to offset the quickly growing understanding among American voters that the Republican-controlled House has adopted:

- An energy bill,
- A faith-based initiative bill,
- An economic stimulus bill, and (as recently as last week),
- Fast-track authority for the President, the Trade Promotion Authority bill.

While all that was going on, the ONLY thing the Daschle-controlled Senate has passed is a pay raise for itself.

This pay raise thing was kind of interesting. There was a procedural vote at midnight, the other night - literally. Under the cover of darkness Senator Daschle allowed a vote which provides a $4,900 pay raise to $150,000. By the way, the Leadership gets more. The House and Senate Leaders will draw about $167,000.

This was the same Tom Daschle who, amid much rending of flesh and railing against the gods, claimed that the House Leadership's refusal to negotiate the stimulus package in the face of the Daschle Rule was unthinkable in a time when people are losing their jobs.

As someone who has worked on the Hill during one of these pay raise things I can tell you that nothing: Not politics, not unemployment figures, not impending collisions by huge asteroids, not anything will get in the way of one of these pay raise votes. Hell hath no fury like a Congressional spouse who finds out a pay raise has been foregone.

The PR offensive is to paint Tom as a gentle, scholarly guy who is only doing what he thinks is best for the country and is the ONLY bulwark against the evil Republicans in the House and the - at a minimum - misguided Republican down on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Another Washington Post piece from earlier last week had reporter John Lancaster quoting a GOP Senate aide as saying, ""I think there's some resentment that Mr. Daschle comes off as this mild-mannered nice guy, and he's portrayed as Mr. Average American looking out for the little guy, and behind the scenes he's plundering and pillaging."

Tom Daschle is playing a very dangerous game for very small stakes. At stake is his control of the Senate next fall and, perhaps, his running for the White House in 2004.

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