Is this Republicans’ idea of control?

Jerry Kremer

It’s time for the Republican Party to call the police and report a kidnapping. A few months ago, the party was basking in the glow of a big victory in Washington and victories around the country. Now it seems that wherever you look, there’s chaos and confusion, whether in the nation’s capital or places like Wisconsin.

Let’s start with the House of Representatives. Just after Election Day, the speaker-elect, John Boehner, was declaring his party to be in firm control of a House that was going to downsize government and show America how to run the country. That was before the new members of the freshman class arrived.

Once the new crowd came to town, Boehner found out that during the election they had made promises that he knew would be hard to keep. Boehner is a professional politician. He has been involved in years of compromises that have resulted in some progressive-thinking legislation. He wasn’t accustomed to being told what to do.

Boehner had no trouble getting elected speaker, but that’s just about where the harmony ended. From that point on, the new crop of members pretty much took over the place. They served notice on Boehner that they were there to make massive cuts in government and didn’t care whether they were one-termers or lifers.

The first test of Boehner’s political powers was his ability to get the House to approve funding for a General Electric program to build a new jet engine in his Ohio district. That $435 million program had managed to survive through previous sessions of Congress. But the new kids had a different idea. They voted down the appropriation, with the help of a few liberal Democrats, giving Boehner a slap in the face.

Now he is trying to craft a resolution that will allow the federal government to keep running after mid-March. He wants across-the-board cuts of one number, and his new members tell him it’s not enough. Boehner wants to run the government, but his Tea Party faction wants to ruin the government.