Word: chairmen
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Speaker, he will relinquish some of his power in order to quiet grumbling in the ranks. Having centralized authority to the point where he was regarded as the strongest Speaker in eight decades, Gingrich is now moving to return more policy-setting freedom to committee chairmen and has promised to consult more closely with members before taking controversial stands, as he did on Bosnia and the Mexican bailout...
QUOTE OF NOTE: "There has been fundamental change to the way Washington works...Powerful committee chairmen are limited to six-year tenures. House rules have made it tougher to raise taxes...
However modest Gephardt's agenda may be, Republicans point out, it would fall to his committee chairmen to carry it out. Almost to a man (and they are all men), those in line to take the jobs represent the most liberal, activist core of the Democratic membership. But they too say they got the message of the 1994 elections. "The goal is not just to have a program but to accomplish the goals that a program is supposed to achieve," says California's Henry Waxman, whose seniority would give him a choice of several committee or subcommittee posts. "The Democratic...
...question is whether voters should believe the records or the new, austere rhetoric of the would-be chairmen. "They are trying to find a way to win the election, and then they will move back and do their agenda," warns Ohio's John Boehner. Even now, some are chafing, making it clear that they see Gephardt's Families First outline as a starting point, not a goal. "Gephardt never has and never would tell me what to do in my committee," Michigan's John Conyers, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told the Wall Street Journal last month...
Recent years have seen changes in Democratic caucus rules that make it easier for the leader to rein in headstrong chairmen. With the credibility of his agenda on the line, Gephardt has hinted he is likely to use that power in a Gingrichian way: by becoming the first Democratic Speaker in more than 20 years to set aside seniority in selecting his chairmen. If the Democrats win back the House, the erratic Henry B. Gonzalez of Texas appears almost certain to be unseated as head of the Banking Committee, and Conyers' position at Judiciary is far from secure...