INTRODUCTION

The Republican majority dominated the agenda of the Ways and Means Committee in the 108th Congress. Of the 64 bills reported by the committee, 61 were sponsored by Republicans. Only three bills sponsored by Democrats made it out of committee and only two of these passed the House. Both successful Democratic bills were sponsored by Tom Lantos (D-CA), both involved relations with Burma, and both passed under suspension of the rules – pursuant to motions made by Republicans – with only two dissenting votes.

In contrast to the broad support that the two Democratic bills garnered on a minor matter, many of the 61 Republican bills reported by Ways and Means were hotly partisan and involved major matters. Perhaps the hottest of all bills reported by Ways and Means concerned pension reform.

In what the Democratic minority dubbed “an egregious abuse of power and a pointless provocation,” House Republicans on Ways and Means used every tactic available to them to push legislation (H.R. 1776) that would reform employer pension plans (Ota, Higa, and Hughes 2003). It all began when Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA) changed the original version of the bill, brought it up for consideration at an 11:00 p.m. meeting of the committee, and then insisted that all members be ready to vote on it the next morning.