Reformers vs. the Old Guard

Will fiscal conservatives retake the GOP? Four key members to watch in Congress.

David Weigel from the April 2007 issue

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In power, Hutchison hasn't shown interest in using the committee as a fulcrum to move the party toward spending, tax, and government cuts. While other Republicans wanted to fight a minimum wage increase this year, for example, she suggested passing it with some business tax cuts to sweeten the deal.

Rep. Jerry Lewis (Calif.)
The highlight of the former chairman's tenure at the Appropriations Committee was his campaign for the job. In 2004 Lewis traveled the country and emptied his coffers to support Republicans; he pledged that as chairman he would support small-government values.

Instead, he presided over the Appropriations Committee as Congress broke records for attaching earmarks to bills. As the 2006 elections approached and voters raged about congressional corruption, Lewis scuttled Republican earmark reforms that, among other things, would have revealed which members were larding up which bills. At the same time, contractors were working with Lewis' lobbyist friend Bill Lowery to make sure their projects were greenlighted. That attracted the attention of the FBI. Lewis' response to being investigated? He fired 60 investigators who had worked for the Appropriations Committee.

Unlike DeMint, Hensarling, and Hutchison, Lewis lost power when the new Congress was sworn in. But don't write him off as a has-been. He remains the highest-ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee; if the GOP retakes power in 2008, he will almost certainly snatch back the gavel. He also represents the Republican majority that re-elected the party's leadership. "He's not someone people look at and get confidence that the Republicans are going to limit spending or run the government in a fiscally responsible way," says David Keating of the pro-market Club for Growth.

Another way of putting it: Lewis and Hutchison are not people who make libertarians want to vote Republican. Whether the party rediscovers the fiscally conservative side of its soul depends on whether it is politicians like them, or like DeMint and Hensarling, who take the lead.

David Weigel is an associate editor of reason.