Copyright 2006 The New York Times
Company
The New York Times
December 9, 2006 Saturday
Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Column 1; National Desk; Pg. 14
LENGTH: 1060 words
HEADLINE: Sentiment And Jokes At
Farewells In the House
BYLINE: By ANNE E. KORNBLUT and JEFF ZELENY
DATELINE:
Representative Charles B. Rangel tried to do something graceful on Friday. He
wished a very public happy birthday to his longtime nemesis, Representative
Bill Thomas, the departing chairman of the
In an exchange on the House floor, Mr. Thomas, Republican of California,
informed Mr. Rangel, Democrat of New York, that his birthday was a few days ago
and asked what Mr. Rangel had done for him lately.
''We're saying goodbye,'' Mr. Rangel said with a smile, drawing out his words
and waving farewell.
In bursts of giddiness and remorse, members of Congress went through not just
the end of the 109th Congress this week, but also 12 years of Republican control.
It was the end of an era, and Republicans left Capitol Hill with spasms of
amusement, anger and humiliation, at times visibly stunned that power and its
trappings had vanished so fast.
They cleared out their belongings, leaving the hallways full of broken
furniture and overflowing trash bins. They gave emotional farewell speeches on
the floor.
They tried -- rather unsuccessfully -- to wrap up business, displaying a lack
of legislative discipline that was a sharp contrast to the machinelike efficiency
of their early years in charge.
Some lawmakers, like Senator Conrad Burns, Republican of Montana, walked off in
a huff.
Representative Charles Bass, Republican of New Hampshire, paused to ruminate
about his party's descent as he descended to the temporary quarters allocated
to incumbents who lost on Nov. 7, a cluster of cubicles in the basement of a
House office building.
''When I was elected in 1994, there were seven of us,'' Mr. Bass said,
referring to the cadre of New England Republicans who long made up the moderate
wing of his party. ''It's been downhill ever since. And now we're down to
one.''
Indeed, the end of the current Congress means the departure of all House
Republicans from New England except for Representative Christopher Shays of
Nearly 12 Republican retirements and almost 24 defeats of incumbent means the
loss of some of the best known, and most colorful, characters of recent
decades.
Representative Henry J. Hyde of
Representative Jim Leach of
''If you think of American history, the best and the brightest gravitated to
politics,'' Mr. Leach said recently after addressing the House. ''Today, that
is less the case.''
He said he believed that he was leaving a Congress far more dysfunctional than
when he arrived, adding, ''The public swings from being slightly left of center
to slightly right of center, but the politics are well to the right of center
to well to the left of center.''
The final moments of the week should have presented a last-dash opportunity for
Republicans to consider core items of the conservative agenda, the chance to
put in a parting word, however symbolic, on issues like abortion.
Instead, the 12 years of Republican discipline began to wither. House
Republicans failed to pass an antiabortion measure, struggled to approve a
package extending popular tax breaks and decided not even to bother trying to
find a solution for the spending bills. Atmospherically, the place began to
look like a sprawling rummage sale, as members departed and others swapped
spaces.
A few dozen gold-embossed books, commemorating the Congressional tributes on
Ronald Reagan's death in 2004, were tossed into the heap next to the office of
E. Clay Shaw Jr., a Florida Republican who was defeated. When word spread about
the books, young Republican aides began scooping them from the garbage.
Other scavengers, some with backpacks and some in business
suits, traipsed up and down the hallways of the House office buildings.
Cleaning crews moved from empty suite to empty suite, confronting years' worth
of debris.
In the basement of the Rayburn building, the more than 20 Republicans who
involuntarily lost their seats crammed into a single office, for some of them
the closest they would come to having space in the most vaunted House office
building.
''I finally got a Rayburn office, but it's in the basement,'' said
Representative Chris Chocola, Republican of Indiana.
On the other side of the Capitol, Senator Rick Santorum of
But Mr. Santorum, a Republican whose once-steady rise in politics ended with a
resounding defeat, refused to be photographed with Mr. Casey, and brushed past
reporters in his closing days in the Capitol.
In a departing act as House majority leader, John A. Boehner of
''Chastened and humbled by our defeat at the ballot box, Republicans have taken
a critical look inward,'' Mr. Boehner wrote. ''We've looked back at our greatest
success, in search of lessons to guide us as we move ahead.''
He warned members that life would change considerably.
''I'm not looking forward to serving in the minority during the next two
years,'' Mr. Boehner said.
But he added that it would be a good lesson and motivation to regain control of
the House in two years and end any feeling of complacency from their 12-year
run.
''If such an entitlement mentality did creep in, it should now be dead and
gone,'' Mr. Boehner wrote. ''And the humbling conditions Republicans face
during the first few months of 2007 will stamp out any trace that remains.
''The end of our Republican majority was not inevitable. Nor is the return of
our majority two years from now. Our fate is in our own hands, and that of the
American people we were elected to serve.''