I was back on Capitol Hill last week, where I had the dual experiences of meaningful memories of the past colliding with realities of the present.
Former staff members from my personal office and from my time as chairman and ranking member arranged a reunion was held on the Speaker’s Balcony. This brought back 28 years of memories encompassing highs and lows, including the horror of 9/11 and the long hard fights for 9/11 health care and victims compensation; the creation of the Homeland Security Committee and legislative achievements in port security and chemical plant security; conducting very controversial hearings on Islamist radicalization and authorizing funding for counterterrorism programs for New York and other terrorist targets; the destruction caused by Superstorm Sandy and the struggle to fund the recovery effort; and working with President Clinton to achieve the Good Friday Agreement, which ended the 800-year war in Ireland.
All of this was discussed among us with feelings of pride in what these staff members had contributed to bring it all about. But underlying this was the strong belief that so much has changed today with the breakdown in bipartisanship and any semblance of unity within the Republican Party, which has broken into multiple factions. This tone was almost identical to what I had heard earlier from current members of Congress, reporters and veteran House staff during the hour or so I spent walking around the Capitol Building before the reunion event with my wife Rosemary and a friend who had come with us for the day.
Believe me, I’m not one of those who longs for the good old days of peace and harmony. Because they never existed. I distinctly recall bitter partisan fights between Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton leading to the government shutdown during the winter of 1995-96.
But I also recall the bipartisan agreements that followed, including welfare reform and a balanced budget. Even when partisanship was at its peak (or depth), there was a realization that an agreement would have to be reached and it would have to have bipartisan elements. It was a few years before my time in Congress, but people told me that while Tip O’Neill didn’t reciprocate President Reagan’s fondness for him, these two leaders worked out an agreement on Social Security — the proverbial third rail of politics — that has preserved the system for decades. Such cooperation would be unimaginable in today’s toxic political climate. It was also achieved before the age of social media and the prominence of cable television.
Recent events, which see a small faction of Republicans resisting every effort by Speaker Kevin McCarthy to unite the party behind a responsible compromise to prevent a government shutdown, serve no governmental or political purpose. Kevin knows he has the responsibility not just of a party leader but a governmental leader of one of the three branches of the federal government. Considering that Democrats control the White House and the Senate (which was lost primarily by President Trump’s clumsy, self-centered intervention in Georgia’s 2020 Senate runoff elections), I think Kevin, who has to operate with such a small majority, has done an outstanding job uniting House Republicans — except for the minuscule faction of dissident hostage-takers who have no endgame or meaningful government strategy.
Whenever Kevin puts together a viable legislative package, the hostage-takers move the goalposts. In just the past three months, they have thrice defeated the rule in a procedural vote and prevented key legislation from even coming to the House floor. This had not happened once in the previous 21 years.
This isn’t a Goldwater-Rockefeller or Reagan-Ford philosophical struggle between conservative and moderate forces for the soul of the GOP. Today’s dissidents are at best ego-driven headline hunters or hopelessly naïve innocents trying to prove they are the most conservative of the conservatives. And for malcontents like Rep. Matt Gaetz to threaten support for primary efforts against New York Republicans who would vote to support bipartisan legislation to keep the government running is ego megalomania or the ultimate in political malpractice. He should be on Joe Biden’s reelection payroll.
It is increasingly apparent that if there is any goal, it is to force Kevin McCarthy from office as Speaker — though these malcontents offer no credible alternative candidate. All they can hope to achieve is chaos, which will to continue to distract public attention from Biden corruption, open borders, mass illegal immigration and ever-increasing crime.
Rep. Mike Lawler accurately described this movement to shut down the government and undermine Speaker McCarthy as a “clown show.” I commend Rep. Lawler and other principled Republicans — including Long Island Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Nick La Lota and Andrew Garbarino — for working with Speaker McCarthy to keep the government open while maintaining Republican unity. This is what politics and government should be about.
It is time for the adults to take charge! God help America!
Peter King was the U.S. representative of New York’s 2nd and 3rd congressional districts for 28 years, including serving as chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Follow him @RepPeteKing.