<Thread>. Read this @NormOrnstein piece in @newrepublic, suggesting an agenda for the New Democratic House majority. As he says, there are a lot of items here, some (like new voting rights legislation) more urgent than others. A few thoughts... newrepublic.com/article/152127…
2. First, a point both @NormOrnstein & @RonaldKlain have made: important parts of the infrastructure supporting House members were allowed to atrophy during the Boehner/Ryan period, and must be rebuilt. This is not as simple as flipping a switch. It will take time.
3. Committees need experienced investigators and talented lawyers; personal Member staff, some of whom will be brand new to the Hill, will need training. @NormOrnstein mentions (presumably as a longer term project) restoring the Office of Technology Assessment,...
4.... a casualty of Gingrich’s Speakership, to give House members a source of information & advice on technology issues other than Executive agencies and campaign donors. All of these can be begun next January, but completed only after several years. Related to this...
5...@NormOrnstein uses as his frame of reference the way Congress traditionally functioned, with responsibility for oversight of Executive agencies and the content of legislation residing in committees. This is not how Congress functions today.
6. This matters because how Congress functions today is, in part, because of the Nancy Pelosi Speakership of 2007-11, which emphasized centralization of legislative & oversight agendas in the majority party leadership. This arrangement can be legislatively productive...
7...when the House Majority party controls the White House & Senate as well. Otherwise, it tends to produce legislative gridlock, petty harassment of the Executive over high-profile subjects, and abandonment of routine oversight otherwise.
8. It also gives rank and file members of Congress lots and lots of time for fundraising, something Pelosi as Democratic Leader has made a priority. You can’t develop legislators by forcing them to spend hours every day on fundraising calls. I wonder if Pelosi recognizes this.
9. Assuming she does...Pelosi has the knowledge & experience needed to begin to transition the House of Representatives back to a more effective, less centralized structure than it has under the feckless Ryan. Democrats would be wise to keep her as Speaker. With that said...
10... there is no future in gerontocracy. Pelosi is 78; other senior members of the Democratic leadership are likewise in their late 70s. One way or another, the authority they now wield within the House Democratic caucus must begin to pass to younger members. This is urgent.
11. One last thought, about impeachment. @RonaldKlain was clear a couple of weeks ago that impeachment should be far down the list of things Democrats think about, let alone act on. His reasons are similar to what I posted earlier in this thread. washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-f…
12. Yet I think impeachment is bound to find its way onto the Congressional agenda. Even what we know now about the Trump campaign’s solicitation of Russian help; Trump’s acceptance of that help; & Trump’s vigorous efforts to obstruct investigation into his Russian connection...
13....puts Trump far beyond the line Congress was prepared to enforce against Richard Nixon in 1974. Robert Mueller & his team are likely to fill in the picture w/even more lurid details, assuming Trump’s manifestly illegitimate pick to run the Justice Dept can’t stop him.
14. This cannot be ignored, and must therefore be prepared for. If Senate Republicans devoted to Trump resolve to protect him regardless of the evidence, so be it. The rule of law, to have enduring meaning, must be enforced in a case like this.
15. Democratic success in the 2018 campaign gives the party a priceless opportunity to develop a policy agenda consisting of more than reactions to Trump, a President ignorant of and largely indifferent to policy. It also provides an opening to develop younger Democrats...
16...the party and country will need in the years to come. Most of all, it is a call to Democrats to assume responsibility for the course our government will pursue in the future. Responsibility involves choices, & not all the choices will be easy ones. [end]
