DeFazio begins 14th term (He’s now Oregon’s longest-serving representative)
[div class="excerpt" style="border: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-bottom: none; border-radius: 0.3846em 0.3846em 0em 0em; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]DeFazio begins 14th term[div class="excerpt" style="border: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-top: none; border-radius: 0em 0em 0.3846em 0.3846em; background-color: #f4f4f4; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]Until last week, Willis C. Hawley was the longest-serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon. Rep. Peter DeFazio surpassed Hawley on Thursday when he was sworn in for his 14th two-year term.
DeFazio said Thursday that when he arrived in Washington, D.C., as a freshman in 1987, he found himself participating in a legislative process — one in which bills were amended as they moved along, and members of both parties formed coalitions in pursuit of shared goals.
The House doesn’t work that way anymore. Because of changes that began under Democratic leadership and accelerated under Republican Newt Gingrich’s speakership, DeFazio said, the majority party now exercises near-exclusive control over the content of legislation. The leaders of the majority operate more like the heads of a parliamentary bloc than as legislative officers.
At the same time, DeFazio said, because of scientific redistricting most congressional districts have been made safe for one party or the other — with the result that few House members stray from party orthodoxy. The number of conservative Democrats has dwindled, and liberal Republicans have all but vanished. What DeFazio recalled as “the broad middle” of his early days in Congress is gone. The House now engages in top-down, party-line lawmaking.
Much more at the link! A fascinating little piece on DeFazio's career in the House of Representatives, changes he's noticed in Washington since he first arrived in 1987, and musings on the nature of his unusual longevity as a perennial outsider- a self-imposed role- from DC "politics as usual".
PB
= new reply since forum marked as read
When I could get C-SPAN he was one of my favorites. When he cuts loose, he really cuts loose. Always intelligent and well-spoken, but with righteous indignation about the rubbish happening in the House.
A happy R&