Pelosi turns Dem caucus into 'meet market' schedules meetings to talk about agenda for next meeting.By: Ryan Grim
Oct 10, 2007 For the House Republican leadership when it was in the majority, meetings were often a formality. Decisions were made at the top, and after a perfunctory debate, members were informed how they were expected to vote.
The new House majority has a different operating philosophy ? one that requires more meetings. A lot more.
?We do have an enormous number,? said Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.).
?There are a lot of meetings,? agreed Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), an ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
The large number of meetings says something about the kind of inclusive regime Pelosi intends to build.
It also drives staffers nuts.
One leadership aide said that
Pelosi schedules meetings to talk about the agenda for the next meeting, leaving no time to get anything done. Those complaints fall on the deaf ears of members of Congress not forced to attend.
?That?s because they have to go to the meetings,? said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), explaining the staff gripes.
?If they?re not worthwhile, I just don?t go,? said Frank, conceding that it?s a luxury his staff doesn?t have. Keeping them all straight can get tricky, even for Pelosi herself.
Asked at a luncheon Tuesday about tax policy, she seemed to struggle while piecing together a packed schedule. ?There are some other tax initiatives that I will check up on when I meet with my chairmen tomorrow morning, two different chairmen,? she said.
?The chairmen meeting ? all chairmen ? then the energy bill chairmen. I referenced that meeting. That?s a different meeting tomorrow.?
Partly, the tendency to hold tons of meetings is in the Democratic DNA. ?We?ve always been less disciplinable,? said Frank.
?That?s always been the Democratic way ? I mean, Democratic as in Democratic Party ? to get everybody in and get agreement and not just impose a position,? said former Rep. Marty Meehan, who recently gave up his Massachusetts seat to become chancellor at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.
?The Democratic Party is very diverse, with varying views on a host of issues: Iraq, health care, education. The speaker is trying to develop a consensus.?
Conyers, Waxman and Frank also cited Pelosi?s desire to reach a consensus and said that the meetings are part of her leadership philosophy. Pelosi has aimed to strike a balance between party discipline and the flexibility to accommodate the political needs of a diverse caucus.
The GOP has a fair measure of political diversity in its ranks, too, but consensus is generally reached with a hammer ? and still is, despite the loss of The Hammer himself.
?I just spoke to a Republican member who told me, ?I?ve got to vote to recommit, but I really don?t support it,?? Conyers said after an Oct. 3 vote to increase the independence of the Government Accountability Office. Not a single Republican opposed the motion, as is often the case.
Meanwhile, 80 Democrats broke with their party, giving the GOP a win on the vote.
But such victories come at a cost, said Democratic leaders. ?You imperil your members with strict discipline, and our people ran against them successfully,? said Frank.
The desire to be open and reach consensus may be real, but the political strategy Frank refers to is a significant driver of the Pelosi policy.
By allowing moderates, especially vulnerable freshman in districts that trend Republican, to buck her on small votes, Pelosi gives them the ability to tell constituents back home that they vote independently and are not under the thumb of the liberal woman from San Francisco.
What?s more, the high number of meetings can have a psychological benefit for a party frustrated by its inability to end the war that is increasingly unpopular with the public. The meetings are a chance to vent and be heard.
Waxman credited the meeting mentality for helping push Pelosi?s floor agenda. The speaker, after forcing strict discipline to accomplish the ?100 hours? agenda at the beginning of the term, has passed every appropriations bill and allowed members to occasionally break with the party line.
Pelosi herself has even broken with the caucus position on votes to fund the war. ?I think that?s why we?ve had so much success on the floor,? Waxman, a Pelosi ally, said of the more open process.
It?s not just the nature of the members and the party, but the agenda itself requires more meetings, said Frank. ?We?re more activist than they are,? he said. ?You need more meetings to say yes. The easiest thing to say is no.?
Difficult as it may be to say yes, a House GOP leadership aide said excessive meetings have led less to consensus and more to stagnation. ?That explains why they can?t get anything done,? he said.
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