Word: capitol
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Bill Thomas, 63, has unhorsed more than a few people in his 27 years in Congress. In 1995, Florida Democrat Sam Gibbons, a normally affable septuagenarian, got so angry at Thomas after a contentious Medicare debate that he lunged for the younger man in a Capitol Hill hallway. A year and a half ago, Thomas outraged a group of House Democrats when he tried to get the police to evict them after they walked out of a hearing and occupied an adjacent room. And then there was the irate Capitol Hill staff member who beat up on Thomas' Mercedes...
...which explains why rank-and-file Republicans on Capitol Hill--who haven't forgotten how they used to get clobbered for entertaining even modest Social Security changes--aren't exactly storming the microphones to pledge their unconditional support for anything that would change the basic outlines of this arrangement. Anxiety is especially high in the House, where all 435 lawmakers have to run for re-election next year. "I've told my staff we are going to keep all options open. I'm not saying yes or no at this point," says Republican Congressman Mike Castle of Delaware, who leads...
Think of them as kids squabbling in the backseat on a long car ride. In the case of Congress, there doesn't seem to be much hope that they'll quiet down and cooperate. Republicans and Democrats can always be expected to bicker, but lately the partisanship on Capitol Hill has become unusually intense. In fact, students of the institution say Congress hasn't been this politically polarized in almost a century...
Army General Barry McCaffrey, "but not to a soldier who's extremely concerned about the safety of himself and his buddies." Rumsfeld compounded the gaffe by adding that "you can have all the armor in the world in a tank, and a tank can be blown up." On Capitol Hill, Democrats ripped Rumsfeld for his insensitivity. "By that logic," says Delaware Senator Joseph Biden, "we should send our troops into battle on bicycles...
...Gramm and Forbes. But as the Administration official put it, "For every good thing they brought to the table, there was something offsetting." As a maverick tax cutter, Forbes was seen as a bad fit to lead Bush's team of loyalists. And Gramm, never well liked on Capitol Hill despite his 18 years in the Senate, appeared an unlikely salesman in Congress for the President's big tax- and Social Security-- reform plans...