Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives (47 page)

“I should not deny”
: Interview with Jackson Lee, June 22, 2011. Sixteen amendments: numbers 238, 239, 240, 398, 399, 400, 401, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 579, 580, 581, 582. Jared Polis had the second-most among Democrats with fifteen. Among Republicans, Steve Pearce had the most amendments, with twenty.

a staggering fifty-two different caucuses
: Jackson Lee website.

The tradition of the jar
: Interviews with five congressional staffers.

Michael Jackson’s funeral
:
Congressional Record,
June 25, 2009; Super Bowl ad:
Congressional Record,
February 8, 2011; soccer stadium:
Congressional Record,
February 9, 2011.

a job fair
: Karen Masterson, “Catering to voters,”
Houston Chronicle,
September 1, 2002. Swimming pools: Ken Fountain, “Rep. Lee, energy firms to the rescue to keep 8 Houston pools, 7 centers open,”
Houston Examiner,
June 20, 2011. Riverside General Hospital: Lindsay Wise,
Houston Chronicle,
June 7, 2010. Houston Ship Channel: Port of Houston newsletter, February 22, 2010.

offered up an amendment
: Author personally observed; also
Congressional Record,
May 4, 2011.

Jackson Lee’s abusiveness
: The first of these was Tim Fleck, “What’s driving Miss Sheila?”
Houston Press,
February 20, 1997.
Washingtonian
poll: In the “meanest” category, Jackson Lee was number two in 2006 (behind Bill Thomas), number
one in 2008 (ahead of Obey) and again in 2010;
Washingtonian,
September 2006, September 2008, and September 2010.

failed in her bid
: Interviews with two attendees.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: “YOU HARD HEAD”

And so the five
: Interview with Duncan, April 18, 2011.

The following day
: Interview with Duncan, May 23, 2011; interview with McCarthy, March 23, 2011.

the whip’s vault of metaphors and homilies
: Interviews with McCarthy, March 23, 2011, April 5, 2011, and April 15, 2011; also interview with Rick Berg, April 7, 2011.

McCarthy loved the freshmen
: Interview with McCarthy, March 23, 2011.

“Touching gloves”
: Interview with McCarthy, May 5, 2011.

“I love chaos!”
: Interview with Berg, April 7, 2011; interview with McCarthy, March 23, 2011.

organized another dinner
: Interview with McCarthy, March 23, 2011; interview with Michael Grimm, April 14, 2011; interview with Adam Kinzinger, May 4, 2011.

Raul Labrador
: Interview with Labrador, May 12, 2011, and with three other attendees.

On the House floor
: Interview with Duncan, May 23, 2011.

Government Shutdown Prevention Act
: Cantor press conference, March 30, 2011.

Kevin McCarthy approached
: Interview with Farenthold, April 13, 2011.

“I am disgusted”
: West press statement, April 7, 2011.

“I thought I’d let you know”
: Interview with West, April 8, 2011. “the representative of South Carolina”:
Congressional Record,
April 8, 2011.

Steny Hoyer received a call
: Interview with McCarthy, April 15, 2011; interview with Hoyer, May 12, 2011.

“You hard head”
: Interview with Duncan, April 19, 2011.

“was a miserable experience”
: Interview with Roskam, May 4, 2011.

Paul Ryan
: Katherine Mangu-Ward, “Young, wonky and proud of it,”
Weekly Standard,
March 17, 2003; Christian Schneider, “Rebel without a pause,”
Wisconsin Interest,
July 2010; Erik Gunn, “That hair, those eyes, that plan,”
Milwaukee Magazine,
July 1, 2005.

“There are parts”
: Monica Davey, “A young Republican with a sweeping agenda,”
New York Times,
August 2, 2010. Cantor and Ingraham: Fox News interview, August 26, 2010. Obama: Transcript of conference, January 29, 2010. “full of gimmicks”: Transcript of health-care summit, February 25, 2010.

Denny Hastert had told Ryan
: Interview with Ryan, May 5, 2011.

listening sessions
: Draper, “How Kevin McCarthy wrangles the Tea Party.”

The result was
: ATF blog, April 5, 2011. Cato Institute: April 5, 2011, Cato blog reprint of op-ed by Michael F. Cannon,
Kaiser Health News,
April 4, 2011. Heritage Foundation: Quoted in
The Path to Prosperity,
p. 59. Krauthammer dissent: Charles Krauthammer, “Paul Ryan’s brave budget blueprint,”
Washington Post,
April 8, 2011. “It’s been great”: Interview with Roskam, May 4, 2011. “You could write”: Interview with LaTourette, May 11, 2011.

McCarthy and Ryan
: Interview with McCarthy, April 15, 2011.

“It’s a vision”
: Transcript of Obama speech, April 13, 2011. “Autism”: Interview with Ryan, May 5, 2011.

“I think Ryan’s”
: Interview with McCarthy, April 15, 2011.

“You’re never going”
: Interview with McCarthy, April 15, 2011; confirmed by Van Hollen’s office.

Friday afternoon
: Author personally observed.

At that morning’s conference
: Interviews with five attendees.

The two budgets
: Author personally observed. Hoyer whip strategy on RSC budget: Interviews with three participants, also interview with McCarthy, April 15, 2011. Ryan congratulating McCarthy: Interview with McCarthy, April 15, 2011, and with Ryan, May 5, 2011.

Later that afternoon, McCarthy
: Author personally observed.

Kathy Hochul
: Hochul and Corwin press statements, April 15, 2011.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: DRAFT HORSE

Cherokees
: Cherokees of South Carolina website. Huguenots: Bertrand van Ruymbeke,
From New Babylon to Eden: The Huguenots and their Migration to Colonial South Carolina
(Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2006). John Duncan: Interview with Duncan, September 6, 2011. Huger:
http://bioguide.congress.gov
. Keitt: Letter from Keitt published in
New York Times,
August 3, 1857; “Keitt and Burlingame,”
New York Times,
June 23, 1856; “Brooks and Keitt,”
New York Times,
July 16, 1856; “The debate in the House on the summer assault,”
New York Times,
July 9, 1857; “Keitt knocked down by Grow,”
New York Times,
February 6, 1858; “Another painful occurrence in the city of Washington,”
New York Times,
May 28, 1856; “A Southern bobadil,”
New York Times,
September 22, 1856. Mills: Interview with Derrick, April 17, 2011.

“disgraceful and un-American”
: Duncan open letter, June 18, 2009.

Three days after
: Author personally observed, April 18, 2011.

He visited the Bosch
: Author personally observed, April 18, 2011.

Keith Jennings
: Author personally observed, April 18, 2011.

a Tea Party event
: Author personally observed, April 18, 2011.

South Carolina delegation
: Author personally observed, April 18, 2011.

“Rogers knew”
: Interview with Duncan, May 23, 2011.

New York Times
had published a story
: Jennifer Steinhauer, “Close-knit, new to the House and resistant to blending in,”
New York Times,
April 10, 2011.

“the draft horse”
: Interview with Duncan, June 23, 2011.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: THE WINNING MESSAGE

On the morning
: Dan Rostenkowski archives, Loyola University. “Socialized medicine”: Congress of Industrial
Organizations radio interview, September 16, 1945. AMA campaign: Democratic Study Group letter from staff director Bill Phillips to members, February 23, 1965, Rostenkowski archives. “Cruel hoax”: Undated clip, Rostenkowski archives. “No longer will”: Johnson remarks at signing ceremony, July 30, 1965.

$500 billion
: Glenn Kessler, “Fact checking the GOP debate: $500 billion in cuts to Medicare?”
Washington Post,
June 15, 2011. 2006 versus 2010: Aaron Astor, “The age gap tells all,”
Moderate Voice,
November 3, 2010.

Franks switch his vote
: Interview with two GOP officials, confirmed by Franks’s office. “We won it”: Pelosi press statement, November 22, 2003.

“supports a budget”
: DCCC video ad, May 12, 2011. “Medicare, Medicare and Medicare”: Chris Cillizza, “Of grand bargains, Medicare and silver bullets,”
Washington Post,
July 7, 2011.

“I hope you get cancer!”
: Interview with Ellmers, June 3, 2011. “You want to kill”: Interview with Grimm, May 4, 2011.

At Cavalry Chapel
: Author personally observed, Fort Lauderdale, FL, April 26, 2011.

Pelosi called Roy Spence
: Interview with Spence, June 18, 2011, with Pelosi, July 19, 2011, and with three other participants.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: SIDE POCKETS ON A COW

“We’re celebrating”
: Author personally observed, April 21, 2011.

That changed when Dingell
: Interviews with three committee members.

“as useful as feathers”
: Edmund L. Andrews, “Veteran House Democrat guards turf on energy,”
New York Times,
July 21, 2007.

a recent op-ed
: Thomas Friedman, “How to fix a flat,”
New York Times,
November 11, 2008.

Dingellisms
: The author has heard Dingell recite many of these, and also has a full list of same in his possession.

“nannyism”
: Robin Bravender, “Conservatives burn over Fred Upton’s light bulb law,”
Politico,
November 12, 2010. “The voters have spoken”: Upton undated memo to “Interested Parties” re: “Energy and Commerce Chairmanship.”

the port at Charleston harbor
: Interview with Duncan, August 2, 2011; Gowdy at South Carolina delegation event, April 19, 2011; also interviews with two other members and three staffers involved in efforts to procure the funding.

international wildlife refuge
: Interviews with three individuals involved in the funding procurement. Salazar meeting: Author personally observed, July 6, 2011.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: “HERE IS YOUR SHIELD”

Ben’s Chili Bowl
: Author personally observed and interviewed, July 7, 2011.

CHAPTER NINETEEN: “DROPPING OUT OF THINGS IS WHAT I DO”

On the afternoon
: Author personally observed, June 1, 2011.

“A to Z Spending Cut Plan”
: David E. Rosenbaum, “Washington Memo: In jargon-filled talk about budgets, a debate of politics over substance,”
New York Times,
July 19, 1994.

dining room with John Dingell
: Interviews with Andrews, July 19, 2011, and with Dingell, June 23, 2011.

“Friday dump”
: From Weiner’s Twitter account, May 27, 2011. “These Friday night visits”: YouTube of Weiner on Maddow’s show, May 27, 2011. “Certitude”: YouTube video of Russert interview with Weiner, June 1, 2011. “OK howz about”: From Weiner’s Twitter account, June 1, 2011.

ballroom of the Sheraton hotel
: YouTube video of press conference, June 6, 2011.

CHAPTER TWENTY: “YOU ARE
WRONG
!”

On June 1, 2011
: Interviews with four of the participants.

“an extreme anti-woman agenda”
:
Congressional Record,
February 15, 2011. “The Senate”: C-SPAN video, April 8, 2011.

One freshman
: Interview with Ellmers, July 22, 2011; also see Draper, “How Kevin McCarthy wrangles the Tea Party.”

“Uncertainty, burdensome”
: YouTube video, June 25, 2011.

At the hearing
: YouTube video, June 21, 2011.

“I love it!”
: The author was the reporter in question.

“go storming the White House”
: Interview with Ellmers, July 22, 2011. Feminist: Marin Cogan, “GOP freshmen women go on offense,”
Politico,
June 20, 2011.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: COFFEE WITH YOUR CONGRESSMAN

At seven-thirty on a spring morning
: Author personally observed, and interviewed Farenthold, April 28, 2011. Farenthold’s wealth:
Roll Call,
December 15, 2011.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: THE HOSTAGE

the spring 1790 session
: Winfred E. A. Bernhard,
Fisher Ames: Federalist and Statesman, 1758–1808
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1965); Richard Labunski,
James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). “settle upon our posterity”: Jacques S. Jaikaran,
Debt Virus: A Compelling Solution to the World’s Debt Problems
(Macomb, IL: Glenbridge, 1992), p. 98. “I despise politics”: Kirkland,
Works of Fisher Ames,
p. 88.