Transcripts For CSPAN3 Ray Smock Interview 20150103

We hear first about the house speakers role from raymond smock. The constitution requires the house of representatives to choose a speaker. What is the speakers job . Speaker has a big job and its evolved over a long period of time, over 200 years. It started out as a Constitutional Office because the constitution says the house will choose the speaker and other officers and there were no other duties mentioned. And it was assumed, since the founders knew all about speakers from colonial legislatures and from the British Parliament going back to the 13th century what a speaker was. A speaker was a presiding officer. But in our congress the speaker was not only a presiding officer, he quickly became a powerful person because he appointed committees and evolved, as Party Systems evolved, the first congresses didnt have organized parties as a twoparty system developed, the speaker became the leader of the Majority Party and took on political ramifications. The constitution is silent on the powers. The powers of the speaker are what the speaker can make of them and thats the unique part of it. Some speakers have exercised great power where theyve even rivaled the presidency in terms of setting the National Agenda. Most of those in recent times but also 100 years ago, two powerful republican speakers Thomas Brackett reed and joe cannon of illinois. Reed was from massachusetts. They were powerful figures who set the agenda of the country. First speaker, muhlenberg of pennsylvania, in the first congress, he simply was a presiding officer. He was paid 2 more than the other members. 6 a day. He got 8 a day. And for that 8 he said i spent most of it on oyster suppers for the members so he didnt feel like it was much of a bonus. He thought he was losing money on the deal. But even muhlenberg, quickly as he got power to appoint committees, found that he was elevated above the other members. The door to the House Chamber is behind you. The speaker is second in line to succeed the president after the Vice President. What does this say about the speakers authority . The speaker has Great Authority in the constitution in that respect. That was changed in 1947 with the secession act which brought the speaker up into a higher position as the highest elected officer after the president and Vice President. And then it goes to the president to pro tem of the senate after that. So the speaker is, after the Vice President , something happens to the president , the speaker is in line to succeed. And that 1947 act was an effort to look at having someone in line that was an elected official. In the old days, it was the secretary of state. So but since 1947 its been the speaker. How has the job evolved since the time of the founders . As i mentioned before, it has evolved into something where the speaker today, modern speakers their role is to be the chief administrative officers of the house even though they have other officers that are elected. But the speaker is where the buck stops in terms of administration of the house. The speaker is also the head of his party and if that party is opposite that of the president of the united states, it means that he is the highest ranking officer of the opposite party. And therefore, the spokesman for the other party visavis the president. The speakers are also have at various times have great power to bring legislation to the floor. Thats handled by other committees but with the speakers sayso. So they control the agenda. The Majority Party controls the agenda and the speaker is the person that has the final authority. What qualities do you think make for a successful speaker . The best speakers through history have been those that have tried to find a way to be problem solvers, to be compromisers, to work with president s of their own party and the opposite party, those who understand the relationship with the chairmen of the committees of the house and thats a tough job to balance all those forces. Speakers dont always have complete control of their own caucus. Theres divisions within the system. The house runs by the numbers for the most part. If you have the majority, you can push the legislation of the Majority Party. And control virtually everything that goes on in the house. Thats one of the differences between the house and the senate. The senate, no matter which party is in charge, each senator, theres only 100 of them, has considerable more individual power but the house runs by numbers so if youre the speaker, you can push the agenda. But that comes at a price if you do it against best interests of most of the members of your caucus or sometimes where your party is in opposition to a National Agenda that is different from your own. In a few minutes, well see speakers tip oneills remarks from 1985 on the opening day of the 99th congress. What is the purpose of the speakers opening day remarks and how old is this tradition . I dont know how long theyve been doing the opening remarks. My guess is its a fairly modern device. I dont know when it first started. A lot of things have started since radio and television. Otherwise the house and the senate, even though their chambers were open, they didnt really do a lot of ceremonial events. Even the stateoftheunion address was not resurrected to be something that was held in congress until Woodrow Wilson did it in 1913. And l. B. J. Made it an evening event on television in 1965. So those other things, like opening day, its an important event. Theres no question about it. Its been televised for many years. But it is a wonderful day when despite the differences, this is when the members try to put their best foot forward, they try to be cooperative, they try to hand the olive branch to the other party, majority and minority, they bring their families on to the floor. Youll see lots of children. Some of them sleeping. Some of them paying attention. And so its a family day to a large extent and also former members come on to the floor and its sort of like meeting your old friends and patting them on the back so its a very friendly thing but it also has a serious tone in the sense that sometimes speakers have used it just to say, hi, im glad to be here, im humbled to have the office. Other times they want to speak of what their agenda is going to be like and this is the first opportunity. Its usually a lighthanded approach and a friendly exchange. In the minority party, the person who has lost the speakership, has to hand the gavel over to the winner and thats usually done with great style and dignity. Tell us about tip oneill. Where was he from . How long did he serve . Tip oneill was from massachusetts. Hes a classic liberal politician of the old school, a newdealer from f. D. R. s days. He was born in 1912. His first campaign, he worked as a Campaign Manager for al smith in 1928 when he ran for president so tip oneills whole life was politics. He was on the cambridge, massachusetts, city council. He was born in cambridge. He served a cambridge district. It was a district of North Cambridge that was mostly irish. It was even called old dublin. So he that was his power base forever. He never forgot where he came from. He always said that was important. He said all politics was local. And that was a pretty good, true observation about the nature of politics, whether youre fixing a pothole in a local street or whether youre dealing with the national budget. Somebody has to have the money to fix the problem and someone has to set the priority of what problem to fix so in that sense all politics is local, whether i pothole or trillion dollar budget. What kind of a speaker was he . Affable, i think thats a good word to use. He could be partisan and tough on the floor but he was the kind of guy that liked to put his arm around you and call you pal. And if it was a lady, he would say darling. He would sometimes go out on the floor just to sit on the floor because he knew members wanted to talk to him. They didnt have to come to his office. He would have times when he would make an appearance on the floor. So he was he was a classic liberal in the sense that he believed in a government could do things for people, in their lives. He grew up during the depression watching Franklin Roosevelt change america and put people back to work. Whether those programs were always successful or not didnt matter. It was the government that was leading the struggle to restore the economy of the country and he always thought that was important. That was a hallmark of his politics. Ronald reagan was in the white house in 1985. What was happening in the house of representatives . His relationship with president reagan is really quite interesting. Both irishmen. After hours, they could still be buddies after 6 00 and have a drink together but they were tooth and nail against one another. By 1985, tip oneill had survived the reagan revolution of 1981 when reagan came into office and of course the senate went to republican in 1981. So it was very hard for the speaker to stop reagan policies even though Many Democrats wanted him to and he simply said, i dont have the votes. So in the early years, the reagan agenda of cutting taxes and other programs went through without much trouble