Topic: Government and Politics

What Do They Call the Republican Party?

By
John Samples

The New York Times reports:

Stan Greenberg, the Democratic pollster, …said that Republicans held 14 seats by a single percentage point and that a small investment by [Howard] Dean [head of the Democratic National Committee] could have put Democrats into a commanding position for the rest of the decade…”There was a missed opportunity here,” he said. “I’ve sat down with Republican pollsters to discuss this race: They believe we left 10 to 20 seats on the table.”

Rahm Emanuel, the architect of the Democratic victory, “More resources brings more seats into play. Full stop.”

The Democrats did not have the resources to fund both an all-out congressional effort and Howard Dean’s party-building work in red states.

In 2002, 90 percent of Democrats in Congress voted to prohibit fundraising of so-called soft money by the parties. Had that ban not been enacted, both parties would have had millions more to spend in 2006.*

I conclude McCain-Feingold cost the Democrats 10 to 20 seats in the House.

* If we simply compare 2006 Democratic party receipts to their 2002 fundraising for the pre-general election period, the sums are nearly identical. However, that is a false comparison. From 1994 to 2002, the sum of party soft money raised by the two parties doubled for each midterm election. Hence, if we compare 2006 Democratic party funding as it is to 2006 Democratic party funding as it would have been without the soft money ban, we can safely conclude the Democratic party would have millions more to spend in 2006 absent McCain-Feingold.

Topics: 
General, Government and Politics, Law and Civil Liberties, Political Philosophy

Wisconsin’s “Sensenbrenner Tax”?

By
Jim Harper

WisPolitics.com reports that the Wisconsin Department of Transporation is proposing to hike a number taxes and fees to pay for various transportation related projects.

Among them, “a $10 ‘federal security verification fee’ for state driver’s license and ID cards to cover the $20.7 million cost of implementation of the federal REAL ID Act.”  WisDOT also proposes doubling the fee for issuance or renewal of the state ID card from $9 to $18.

Wisconsin Representative James Sensenbrenner pushed the REAL ID Act through Congress.

Topics: 
Government and Politics, Law and Civil Liberties, Tax and Budget Policy, Telecom, Internet & Information Policy

More on 2006

By
John Samples

Some more interesting numbers from Election 2006:

The Democrats won 29 seats held by Republicans or formerly held by Republicans (open seats). In 2004 President Bush won 19 of those districts with an average of 56 percent of the vote. Senator Kerry won 10 of the districts, taking an average of 52 percent of the vote.

In 15 of these 29 districts, Bush won 54 percent of the vote or more in 2004. In other words, those 15 Democrats will represent strongly Republican districts. Those 15 House members would, if they return to the GOP, deprive the Democrats of a majority.

We may see both divided government and, on some issues, a divided House majority.

Topics: 
General, Government and Politics

Fire Up the Favor Factory

By
Chris Edwards

In the Senate, the Republicans have just elected pork barrel champion Trent Lott (R-MS) to be their second-ranking leader.  I guess the GOP wants to get a headstart on losing the 2008 election. 

Over in the House, the battle over the majority leader’s position is being fought between John Murtha (D-PA) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD). According to the Washington Post, Murtha is a corruption-tainted supporter of the recent orgy of congressional earmarks, while Hoyer is a more moderate and sensible choice for leader.

But let’s not get too excited about Steny Hoyer. In a 2004 story, the Washington Post portrays him as an unapologetic champion of bringing home federal spending goodies to his Maryland district. Indeed, he is one of the 10 most prodigious porkers in the House. When asked whether Congress ought to end pork barrel spending, Hoyer said “I hope not…pork barrel is in the eye of the beholder.”

Topics: 
General, Government and Politics

The “Do Nothing” Congress Can, and Should, Do Something Good on Trade

By
Sallie James

Make no mistake, the incoming Congress looks like it will be less amenable to trade liberalization than the last. Many friends (or, at least, non-enemies) of free trade in the last Congress have been replaced by “fair-trade” Democrats who have lamented the trade policies of the Bush Administration and seem keen to provide more “oversight” (read: populist obstructionism) on trade issues in the future.

However, rather than pass laws on warrantless wire-tapping and the like, the 109th Congress can make a positive contribution to U.S. policy in its last, dying weeks and vote in favor of granting “permanent normal trade relations” status to Vietnam. That would strengthen the bilateral relations between the United States and Vietnam, and bring economic benefits to both nations.

Holding up the passage of that bill before the elections was Sen. Mel Martinez (R- Fla.), concerned about the treatment of Thuong Nguyen “Cuc” Foshee, a Florida woman detained in Vietnam on suspicion of terrorism. Mrs Foshee was, however, released for health reasons and is due to return to the United States today. That paves the way for a House vote on the issue this week and, hopefully, a Senate vote soon after.

Vietnam’s accession to the WTO has already been approved by the WTO membership, and a bilateral market access deal between the United States and Vietnam was sealed in May 2006. Vietnam would not, however, need to extend most-favoured-nation tariffs to the United States until Congress granted PNTR. Unless and until then, U.S. consumers and companies would not be able to take full advantage of Vietnam’s accession to the WTO. A market of more than 82 million people, growing at an average rate of 7.5 percent over the last decade, seems too good an opportunity to risk on a year-to-year basis (the current schedule for granting most-favored-nation status to Vietnam).

Apart from securing those economic benefits as soon as possible, however, a diplomatic embarrassment is ripe for the avoiding. President Bush is due to visit Hanoi from November 18-19 for the annual APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) leaders meeting, at which the Doha round is due to be discussed.

My colleague Dan Ikenson has some concerns about the concessions made by the administration in order to secure the PNTR passage (see here), but this bill is one that the lame-duck Congress can, and should, pass quickly. Apart from the tangible economic benefits it will bring, it will have powerful “signal value” that the United States is still engaged on trade.

Topics: 
Government and Politics, International Economics and Development, Trade and Immigration

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