The recent federal government shutdown over the Affordable Care Act and the last-minute vote to raise the debt ceiling highlight the political impasse in Washington, D.C., these days. The government seems paralyzed, unable to act on key issues.
History suggests that we can do better. Over the years, statesmanship, compromise, and elevating the public good above partisan advantage have been essential to the success of America's political system.
For instance, President Lyndon Johnson, was a master of negotiating with powerful congressional leaders to get things done. One of the strongest was Sen. Harry F. Byrd of Virginia, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, a fiscal conservative known for bottling up bills he opposed in his committee. Byrd had thwarted Johnson's predecessor, John F. Kennedy, who had disdained negotiations with him. But Johnson, as Senate majority leader before becoming vice president, had cultivated a relationship with Byrd, often seeking his advice by asking, "Can I have a bit of your wisdom?"
Johnson needed Byrd's support to pass a tax cut bill in 1964 to produce jobs and stimulate the economy. He phoned to invite Byrd to lunch: "Harry, why don't you come down here and see me tomorrow. I need some of your wisdom." A White House limo picked him up. Johnson gave the senator a personal tour of the White House and the two sat down to lunch, a menu selected by Johnson which included potato soup, a Byrd favorite. Byrd agreed to support the tax cut on condition that Johnson shave the next year's federal budget to below $100 billion.
Johnson agreed and began paring back his proposed budget. "I worked as hard on that budget as I have ever worked on anything ... Day after day I went over that budget ... I studied every line, nearly every page, until I was dreaming about the budget at night," Johnson recalled in his memoirs. "You've got to get that budget down!" the president shouted at Agriculture Secretary Orville Freeman. "I'm going to try to stop and arrest the spending and try to be as frugal as I can make them be," Johnson assured Byrd. "You're my inspiration for doing it."
Johnson got the budget down below what Byrd had demanded and stroked the senator's ego one final time, telling him: "You can tell your grandchildren that you were the senator who finally got a president to cut his budget." Byrd endorsed the tax cut bill and sidetracked proposed amendments. The bill quickly cleared his committee and passed the Senate and the House.
The working relationship between Republican President Ronald Reagan and Democratic Speaker of the House Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill shows how political adversaries can cooperate to make government work. Reagan was a conservative committed to reining in government; O'Neill, a liberal who favored robust federal education, health, and other programs. Reagan once said, "Tip was an old-fashioned pol. He could be sincere and friendly when he wanted to be but when it came to things he believed in, he could turn off his charm like a light switch and become as bloodthirsty as a piranha." O'Neill said of Reagan: "There's just something about the guy that people like ... He's cutting the heart out of the American dream to own a home and have a good job [but] he's still popular."
The two often sparred in public. But away from the political limelight, they were gracious and collegial. As O'Neill later recalled, they were always friends after six o'clock and on weekends. Reagan often called in the evening just to chat, always starting with, "Hello, Tip, is it after six o'clock?"
In 1981, when Reagan needed Democratic votes to raise the debt ceiling, O'Neill furnished them on the condition that the president send a personal note to every Democratic representative asking for his support. Reagan was happy to comply. O'Neill delivered the promised votes but Democrats could explain their stand by citing a personal appeal from the president.
In 1982, the two cooperated behind the scenes on a "tax reform" bill that closed some loopholes and raised a few taxes, which O'Neill favored and Reagan needed to close a budget gap. When conservative Republicans balked at the deal, O'Neill lectured them that they ought to support their president. The bill passed.
"Tip O'Neill made a speech to Repubs. telling them why they should support me," a grateful Reagan recorded in his diary. "It seemed strange, both of us on the same side."
In 1983, they compromised on a bill to strengthen Social Security — Reagan agreed to hike some payroll taxes, O'Neill agreed to postpone some increases in benefits. The deal halted Social Security's slide toward insolvency and put it on a long-term fiscally sound basis. Three years later, the president and the speaker collaborated on a Reagan tax reform bill that simplified the tax code and reduced the number of brackets, in effect cutting some marginal tax rates. But it also closed some loopholes and reduced some deductions, which O'Neill wanted, and passed with bipartisan support.
Presidents and congressional leaders can address tough issues, but it requires a higher order of statesmanship than we have seen recently in Washington.
Bruce Dearstyne lives in Guilderland. He was a professor and is an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland. He also was a program director at the New York State Archives.