Minority Parties in Congress

The initial objective of whomever is the minority party in Congress (particularly the House of Representatives) is to get out of the minority. The primary goal of the Republicans right now (just as it was for the Democrats in 2006) is to take back control of at least one chamber, so they are able to at least stunt the other party's agenda, if not advance their own.

To take back the majority, the minority party in Congress--specifically the 214 Republicans who should still show up for work every week--need to play a largely rhetorical role. This was quite vividly demonstrated during the recent stimulus fight. House Republicans had absolutely no chance of stopping the passage of the bill. So throughout the process they found the closest TV camera and basically screamed about the funds in the bill for contraception (which was eventually removed) and other Democratic-type pet-projects. This was to intentionally demonstrate what they viewed as the frivolousness of the bill. Their message was designed to penetrate the districts of some of the more moderate Democrats. This may led to them picking off some votes which would have embarrassed Democratic leadership or if it were later in the legislative cycle, sunk the entire bill altogether.

Vocal minority opposition in the short term can also help them in some long term battles. Let's take the President's upcoming budget plan. Had Republicans balked at questioning the stimulus package, they would have to start out fresh in their fight against the budget. But since they already attacked the stimulus on spending grounds, they can credibly question the Democrats current budget proposal along the same lines. Then when a health care initiative or another massive spending program is introduced later in the year, they will have already begun to paint the President and Democrats in Congress as drunk on spending. This may make some Blue Dog Democrats a little queasy, which would force them "to," as described by Pearson and Schlickter "cast votes that are tough to defend in their districts" (183). As a result they may join the vocal Republican opposition. Then the plan may lose popularity throughout the country and could force Democrats to risk losing the bill on the House floor or scrap the plan altogether before it even makes it to the floor.

Democrats reacted similarly to proposals made by President Bush when they were in minority. One example was their vociferous opposition to Bush's plan to privatize social security just following the 2004 election. In the House, Rep Earl Pomeroy argued that Democrats were "going to stand and fight to kill the privatizing approach." While in the Senate (where the minority at least has some power, as long as it has at least 41 members, like the current Republican caucus), Minority Leader Harry Reid stated the following: ''The Bush plan isn't really Social Security reform...It's more like Social Security roulette. Democrats are all for giving Americans more of a say and more choices when it comes to their retirement savings. But that doesn't mean taking Social Security's guarantee and gambling with it. And that's coming from a senator who represents Las Vegas."

What else can a party that suffers a 75-or-so seat deficit in the House do to stay relevant? I guess they really need to just dig in, get as loud as possible and try to portray the Democrats as out-of-touch, while hoping that their plans fail. If they agree to work with the majority, then they have to try to take credit for it if it works or take some blame if it fails (neither of which is gamble worth taking while in the minority). So it is not surprising to see leaders like Minority WHIP Eric Cantor calling the stimulus package “a spending bill beyond anyone’s imagination,” after it passed.

In the Senate the Republicans can threaten to filibuster, but the way it is currently structured (58-41) they can surrender one member of their caucus during cloture votes and still maintain the filibuster. If they lose the Minnesota seat to Al Franken, the entire caucus must stick with them. So their role may also shift to a largely rhetorical position (particularly with the 3 moderate Republicans from Maine and Pennsylvania). However the good news for minority parties, the next election is always just around the corner and it is another opportunity to turn the minority into a majority.