Exit Interviews

Do term limits matter? Just ask Congress’ quitters.

Katherine Mangu-Ward & Michael W. Lynch from the October 2000 issue

(Page 9 of 9)

I remember standing on the back of a tractor-trailer at the Georgetown Steel mill to explain that vote. It’s a fairly daunting thing to stand up before a couple thousand steel workers and say, "I am going to vote against you and here’s why." Basically I said that you’ve got the executive branch to administer the existing law and you’ve got the legislative branch to create new laws. What we can’t simply do as legislators is create new laws if the executive branch is not adhering to existing laws.

Then I said to the sponsors of the bill, "Look, there is already a law in place that says we will not allow dumping. Because they’re not enforcing that law, you guys want to create a new law that also happens to cost a lot of money."

Reason: Is it just impossible to stand up on that tractor-trailer to talk about the gains from trade and comparative advantage?

Sanford: You could if you want tomatoes thrown at you. I was the only guy in the South Carolina delegation to vote to give the president fast track authority on trade legislation in 1998. I walked through the comparative advantage with constituents. If you think about it, you’ve got a trade deficit with your favorite restaurant that you like to take your wife to on Friday evenings. Or with the movie theater or the bowling alley. And you don’t mind having a trade deficit with the bowling alley.

The issue is: Can you afford that trade deficit to the bowling alley? Voters respond, "That’s all well and good, but the bottom line is that my ability to go to that restaurant on Friday night rests on my keeping my job. My mortgage payment depends on this job, and if I lose this job, I am not certain that I will be able to find a job paying as well someplace else and I lose my house."

Reason: What’s the biggest surprise you’ve had in Congress?

Sanford: The local will always trump national. Tip O’Neill said that all politics are local. He was exactly right. Whatever is in the best interest of one’s chances of getting reelected is what drives the institution. It’s selfishness in that "I-have-got-to-stay-up-here-to-do-good, fight-other-fights" way.

These people become your friends and you don’t want to disappoint them. Even though I’ve only been here six years, some of my best friends in life are other members of Congress and I am going to miss them when I go. And if I had been here on the 20-year program, I would be that much more hesitant about disappointing them. Because nobody likes to disappoint anybody.