Transcripts For CSPAN3 Ray Smock Interview 20150111 : vimars

Choose the speaker. What is the speakers job . The speaker has a big job. It started out as a constitutional office. The constitution says the house will choose its speakers. There were no other duties mentioned. It was assumed, since the founders knew all about speakers, that what the speaker wires was a presiding officer. In our congress, the speaker was not only presiding officer, he quickly became a powerful person because he appointed committees. That evolved into as Party Systems of all, First Congress did not have organized parties. As the two party system evolved, the speaker became the leader of the majority party, and took on political ramifications. The constitution is very silent on this the powers of the speaker are what the speaker make of them. That is the unique part of it. Some speakers have exercise great power even rivaling the president. Most recently, but even long ago. There were powerful figures who set the agenda of the country. The first speaker of pennsylvania in the First Congress he was simply a presiding officer. He was paid two dollars more than the other members he got eight dollars per day. For eight dollars, he said i spent most of it on suppers for the members. He did not feel like it was much of a bonus. T cell acute losing money he felt like he was losing money on the deal. Even he felt like he was elevated above other members. The door to the house of changes behind you the speaker is the second line to succeed the president after the vice president. What does that say about the speakers authority . The speaker has Great Authority in the constitution. That would change in 1947 with the succession act it brought the speaker up to the highest elected officer after the present down and vice president. Then it goes to the president of the senate. That 47 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. But since 1947, it is a speaker. How has the job evolved . As i mentioned before, it has evolved into something in which the modern speaker their role is to be the chief Administrative Officer of the house. Even though they have other officers that are elected, the speaker is where the buck stops. The seeker is also the head of the party. If that party is opposite of the president of the united states, it means he is the highest ranking officer of that party. The speakers have also had at times great power to bring legislation to the floor that depends on committees, but with the speakers say so. They controlled the agenda. The speaker is a person who has the final authority. What qualities make for successful speaker . The best speakers through history have been those who try to find a way to be problem solvers, compromises, to work with the president of their own party, and the opposite party. Those who understand the relationship with the chairman of the committees, of the house. That is a tough job to balance all those forces. Speakers do not always have complete control of their own caucus. There are divisions within the system. The house run 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. That is why the differences between house and the senate. The senate, no matter what party is in charge, each senator has more individual power. The house run by numbers. If youre the speaker, you can control the agenda. If you do it against the best interest of the most members of your caucus, or sometimes where your party is in opposition to a national agenda. In a few minutes we will see speaker tip oneils opening remarks from 1995. What is the purpose of the opening day remarks, and how long does the tradition . I do not know how long we have been doing it. My guess is that it is a fairly modern device. A lot of things have started since radio and television. Otherwise, the house and the senate even though their chambers were open, they do not do a lot of ceremonial events. Even the state of the Union Address was not resurrected until Woodrow Wilson did in 1913. Lbj made it an evening event on television in 1965. Theese other things, like opening day, it is an important event, it has been televised for many years, but it is a wonderful day. 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. They bring their parties onto the floor. You will see a lot of children some of them sleeping some of them paying attention. It is a family day. Also, former members come onto the floor. It is like meeting old friends, and putting them on the back. It has a serious tone in the sense that sometimes speakers have used it to just say, hi, im glad to be here. Other times, they want to speak of what their agenda will be like. This is the first opportunity. It is usually a light handed approach, and a friendly exchange. The Minority Party the person who has lost the speakership has to hand the gavel over to the winner. That is usually done with grace and dignity. Where was tip oneil from . He was from massachusetts. He is a classic liberal politician of the old school. A new dealer from the fdr days. He was born in 1912. In his first campaign, he worked for our smith in 1928. Tip oneils cold whole life with politics. He was born in cambridge. A district that was mostly irish. That was his power base forever, he never forgot where he came from. He said all politics was local. That was a very true observation of the nature politics whether you are fixing a pothole in a local street, or dealing with the national budget. Some may have to have the money to fix the problem, and set the priority of what problem to fix. What kind of speaker was he . He was affable. He could be partisan and tough on the floor, but he was the kind of guy that like to put his arm around you and call you pal. If it was a lady, he would say darling. Sometimes you go out on the floor just to sit on the floor. He would just make an appearance on the floor. He was a classic liberal in the sense that he believes government could do things for people. He grew up during the depression watching Franklin Roosevelt changed america, and put people back to work. It was the government that was leading the struggle to restore the economy of the country. He always thought that was important. That was the hallmark of his politics. Ronald reagan was in the white house in 1985. What was happening in the house of representatives . His relationship with Ronald Reagan was really quite interesting. Both irishmen. After hours, they would have a drink together. They were twos and nail against one another. By 1985, tip oneil had survived the reagan revolution. Of course, the senate went to republican in 81. It was very hard for the speaker to stop reagan politics. He simply said, i do not have the votes. In the early years, the reagan agenda of cutting taxes and other programs went through without trouble. Even though tip