It’s to be expected when former leaders criticize current leaders. Still, it is striking that former House speakers Newt Gingrich and Thomas Foley are so united about how terrible Congress is doing. Speaking at an American Enterprise Institute event, the Republican and Democrat complained, according to The Washington Post, about “a collapse of committee deliberations, the demise of oversight of the executive branch, the loss of the ‘regular order’ of rules for debate and legislation, a runaway spending process, and a shrinking legislative calendar.” Their partial solutions, the Post reported, included: “restore committee power to write laws, ban fundraising in Washington, abolish lawmakers’ political action committees, end spending ‘earmarks’ and enforce the rules that guide the legislative process.” But Gingrich said the real solution is to clean house. “The correct answer,” he said, “is for the American people to just start firing people.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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