Exciting times coming up in Washington

I just read a great piece in The Wall Street Journal, which laid out Republican plans for the coming two years in Washington, D.C. When Republicans take over the House of Representatives in January, they'll have a solid majority, 242 to 193. The author, Fred Barnes, says many good things can happen as a result. Let's hope so.

Barnes believes House Republicans intend to take full advantage of the new conservative mood in the country as people saw the Democrats enlarge the government at a frightening pace. Public sentiment now strongly favors cuts in spending, less government, and a shift in power to the states. Even now the House Republicans are ready to join their Senate colleagues to block the spending surge that Democrats are trying to slip through the lame duck Congress this week.

The Republicans' strategy, according to Barnes, is to use the House as a battering ram to force their proposals and ideas to the top of Washington's list of priorities. By passing spending cuts—a new one every week—and curbs on government activism, the goal is to put Democrats and the president on the defensive. Guess who will now be called the party of "no"?

Barnes mentions several committees which will be at the head of the charge. First is the budget committee. Wisconsin's Paul Ryan, the incoming chairman, says he's "stockpiling bills right now" to cut back spending and overhaul the entire budget process. At the Energy and Commerce Committee, the incoming chairman is Michigan's Fred Upton, who is eager to contain the rising cost of Medicaid. He plans to dispatch committee members to investigate federal agencies to "see if they're capable of running their programs." I have a hunch he'll discover many are not.
In addition, Mr. Upton intends to have what he calls "top-flight governors," including Chris Christie of New Jersey, testify on Medicaid at a series of committee hearings. I'm looking forward to that; Christie is my new political hero. Ever see some of his confrontations with liberals on YouTube? That's not all. He also wants to subject the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka ObamaCare, to "heavy-duty oversight." I like that. Of course, parts of it may disappear once the courts get through with it.

Another committee will be looking at financial wrongdoings in our government. The Financial Services Committee, which will be led by incoming Chairman Spencer Bachus of Alabama, is preparing to review the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill enacted this year. More important, he will take up what that law completely ignored, the money-hemorrhaging Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The House Appropriations Committee, where the purse strings are held, will be the first to act. Its task is to offer "rescissions," or cuts, in the current 2011 budget. To prove their seriousness about reining in spending, House Republicans will vote first on a 5% decrease in funding for congressional operations, the speaker's office included. That vote will be followed by one to repeal ObamaCare. Both are expected to pass the House. Won't that be interesting to watch as it unfolds?

So, here's to a new Washington in 2011. The Republicans have to produce or the American people will turn on them. They didn't win because the electorate loved them. They won because Americans didn't like the direction Obama, Pelosi, and Reid were taking them. It's up to these incoming representatives to make things right. The Democrats won't go quietly, so these next two years should provide plenty of fireworks. Keep our elected officials doing what they promised--trimming the excesses of the past two years.