Ripon Forum


Vol. 40, No. 2

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A Note from the Chairman

We have tried to continue that tradition in this issue by focusing on a number of important topics that we believe will have some prominence in the coming weeks and months. We lead off with a discussion of the Suburban Agenda, an effort by a group of House Republicans to craft a positive, issues-oriented strategy […]

The Suburban Agenda

There are two basic truths to mid-term elections in America – they are won on themes, and, historically speaking at least, they are usually lost by the party in power.

Suburban Health Care

The legislative agenda developed by the suburban caucus is meant to address our everyday concerns: the safety of our children at school, congested and overcrowded roads, and dwindling open space, for instance. At the very top of that agenda is health care. Seniors enjoying their retirement, couples raising children, and individuals in the suburbs face […]

Q&A with Dave Reichert

Dave Reichert represents Washington’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Elected in 2004, he first came to national prominence as the detective who led the effort to capture the Green River serial killer. He serves on three committees in Congress, and is Chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Science […]

How I See It

The question is simple enough. What do I think about increasing access to health insurance for American workers? Strengthening border security? Lobbying reform? I’m for them all, and House Republicans are taking aim at each. But beneath the veneer of these simple questions is, I believe, a fundamental misunderstanding of the role a Majority Leader […]

A Bipartisan Solution to Our Big Government Problem

The issue is the establishment of a Sunset Commission. For the second straight year, President Bush is proposing the creation of such a commission as part of his budget plan. Under this proposal, every federal agency and government program would automatically receive a 10-year expiration date, at which time they would essentially be required to […]

Devising a Terrorism Insurance Solution

When Congress enacted the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (also known as TRIA) in 2002, the government-backed terrorism reinsurance program it established was designed as a temporary stopgap to give insurers time to regroup and sort out the complexities of dealing with terrorism risk.

Dynamic Scoring: The Time is Now

It is hard to find any serious economist who would argue that the federal government’s tax and spending policies make no difference to U.S. economic performance. Indeed, all across the political spectrum and throughout the leading schools of economic thought, a broad consensus exists that what governments do with tax dollars and how they raise […]

Dynamic Scoring: Not So Fast!

They are frustrated because formal revenue loss estimates used by Congress during the budget process ignore revenues recouped from the increase in economic activity which occurs as a result of the pro-growth tax cuts.

Politics Never Sounded So Good

We wring our hands in this third century of the American Experiment. More of us, we’re told, can identify Paris Hilton than Paris, France. Frothy celebrity magazines thrive while serious political journals struggle. Citizens seem more excited about voting for the American Idol than the American President. Entertainment trumps civic engagement; staying amused is more […]

Lincoln, King and Scripture

When Americans marked the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr., earlier this year, we were paying tribute to two leaders who did more to advance the causes of equality, human dignity, and civil rights in this country than perhaps any other Americans.

The Party Line: Great Republican Quotes from Lincoln to Reagan and Bush

Great Republican Quotes from Lincoln to Reagan and Bush

From the Archives: Thirty Years Ago in the Forum

Last month fort-five different House Republicans joined in groups of varying size to issue two in-depth statements, one on the draft, the other on foreign aid; eighteen introduced a Civil Rights Law Enforcement Act of major significance. The spearhead for the initiative was once again the Wednesday Group of moderate Republicans, joined in the draft […]

The Backpage: Maybe Clinton was right

Ten years ago this past January, Bill Clinton delivered his State of the Union Address in which he famously declared that “The era of big government is over.” In this same speech, he also reiterated his support for school uniforms and the V-chip.

Ripon Profile of Melissa Hart

I am a Republican because we are the only party that is offering positive ideas to make our country and our communities a better place to live and raid families.

How I See It

The House Majority Leader discusses the year ahead in Congress

From the moment I was elected to serve my fellow House Republicans as Majority Leader, I’ve been asked the same question innumerable times by innumerable people: “What do you think about [insert issue of the day here]?”

The question is simple enough. What do I think about increasing access to health insurance for American workers? Strengthening border security? Lobbying reform?  I’m for them all, and House Republicans are taking aim at each. But beneath the veneer of these simple questions is, I believe, a fundamental misunderstanding of the role a Majority Leader is supposed to play.

The answer to those questions shouldn’t be what I personally think, but what the Members of the House Republican Conference think. As I see it, the Majority Leader isn’t here to issue commands from the top down based on personal preference. The role of a Majority Leader is to facilitate, to guide, and to build consensus from the ground-up.  

Remember: the Majority Leader and the rest of the elected Leadership are important. But the lifeblood of the House runs through the Committees and their Members.

Already in the last few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to do just that.

The House Republican vision for the year is taking shape from the ground-up. We’ve already   identified a set of themes we’ll drive in the coming months. We’re pledging to keep America prosperous, ensure affordable and accessible health care, spend tax dollars wisely, and strengthen national security and border security. 

Our united vision will be critical as a lodestar to guiding our legislative efforts, ensuring Republican unity, and ensuring our constituents clearly understand why we’re here and what we’re all about. It is my job as Majority Leader to ensure whatever policy we put forth reflects that vision. I will do so the same way I have approached crafting the vision — from the ground up. 

Remember: the Majority Leader and the rest of the elected Leadership are important. But the lifeblood of the House runs through the Committees and their Members. I will work to facilitate planning for success without interfering with the Committees’ prerogatives to set policy, and to make sure that any bill that will subject Members to political risk will have sufficient political and communications support.

How will I do that? First, I will work to take our collective vision and implement it across Committee jurisdictional lines. These lines are necessary for the efficient working of the House, but they can also present obstacles to developing and advancing our very best ideas. And many important themes cross jurisdictional lines. We must identify key substantive themes based on our vision, and then ensure that the appropriate Committees work together to develop agendas to drive those themes.

Second, I will work with the Committees and their Members to lay the groundwork for successful outreach. Battles are ultimately won with superior preparation — planning, strategy, identifying weaknesses early and solving them before they become exposed. We are most successful advancing both policy and political goals when we integrate policy making with strategy.

Big goals take communications and outreach strategies as well as policy strategies, and each is stronger when informed by the others. This is why an aggressive communications effort isn’t just about communicating with the press; it’s communicating with Members. It’s ensuring every Member knows where we’re going and how we’ll get there and ensuring everyone is part of the decision making process. Again: success begins at the ground level. 

In addition, any communications effort must help prepare Members to win the debate as well as the vote. After all, if our goals are serious, we have to take them seriously. When we stop caring urgently about winning the debate as well as the vote, we lose confidence in our accomplishments, and even victories seem a little hollow. We shouldn’t be satisfied with winning just because we have more votes; we want to win because we’re right on the merits as well.

I’m hopeful the lessons I’ve learned over the last 15 years will serve our Conference well. When I served as Chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee, we worked from the ground up on every major piece of legislation we moved.  We developed principles that guided us through the entire process; asked the tough questions about policy, message, and where our support would be; and we sought bipartisan support without sacrificing Republican principles. When we asked Members to take tough votes, we provided them with press and coalitions support in their districts. Our victories were the products of the same extensive planning, Member outreach, press and coalitions support I will bring to the entire Conference. 

In the end, I see a tremendous opportunity for House Republicans to recapture the energy, spirit, and creativity of the early years of our majority.  During my tenure, the success of our ideas, our principles, and our Members will come first. As a result, the final answer to the “What do you think…” questions won’t simply be my personal preference — it will come from a united House Republican Conference.  

John Boehner represents the 8th District of Ohio in the House of Representatives and is the House Majority Leader.