There have been more news stories, columns and blogs than one can count about the current presidential race. Yet almost nothing has been heard about perhaps the second most important post in Washington — Senate majority leader. Whoever holds that office will have a lot to say about whether Congress can again become an effective part of the federal government.
We’ve come to see congressional gridlock as normal. President Barack Obama was legislatively effective only during the two years he had commanding majorities in Congress, including a rare filibuster-proof Senate majority. Since then, nothing of consequence has been accomplished legislatively. Many crucial bills never even get a House floor vote.
Gridlock isn’t normal, however. It underlays the frustration and discontent affecting voters of all political persuasions. Just over two decades ago, Congress concluded an extraordinary burst of productive, bipartisan legislation — even though there was a Republican president and a solidly Democratic Congress.
The leader most responsible was Maine Sen. George Mitchell. Although he served only six years as majority leader, from 1989-1995, his legacy includes landmarks in fields as diverse as alternative transportation, disability rights, tax policy, nursing home regulation and, of course, environmental protection, building on the legacy of his predecessor, Sen. Ed Muskie.
Perhaps Mitchell’s most impressive feat was spearheading the drive to contain the mammoth deficits created during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, bringing fiscal responsibility back into favor. Through two painful budget-balancing agreements, one enacted under Republican President George H.W. Bush, another under Democratic President Bill Clinton, the federal budget produced a surplus for the first time since Lyndon Johnson was president.
Both presidents paid a political price. It’s never popular with voters to raise taxes and cut spending, as both agreements did. What’s also clear is that without Mitchell as Senate majority leader, the budget deals never would have passed.
Mitchell’s most important and lasting legislative achievement, though, is the Clean Air Act of 1990. Until I researched my biography of Mitchell, I hadn’t appreciated the enormous skill it took to guide this groundbreaking bill through Congress and how important it has become to combating global warming.
Until Congress acted, it was overwhelmingly likely all fish life would disappear from many of Maine’s northern lakes and tree growth would be sharply slowed because of acid rain, primarily from Midwestern power plants.
Nationally, air pollution alerts had spread from southern California to the entire East Coast, including Maine, as ground level ozone damaged the health of many Americans.
This time, disaster was averted. The air is cleaner, respiratory disease was contained and Maine’s red spruce trees — the indicator species for acid rain — are “growing better than they have in recorded history,” according to a recent research report.
In all these achievements, Mitchell had a vital partner: Republican Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole. The partisan differences between the two were considerable, yet they managed to work together and enhance each other’s strengths.
Dole was an old-fashioned Republican who believed in fiscal responsibility; Mitchell, like most Democrats, advocated an active role for government, yet was skeptical of dramatic changes not justified by evidence. After leaving the Senate, the two became law partners and they still are friends today.
Dole and Mitchell created a hotline so they could be in constant communication. By contrast, today it’s not uncommon for Republican and Democratic leaders not to meet for weeks at a time.
The two Senate leaders showed it’s possible to be intensely partisan and still reach agreements that meet broad national interests. The cooperation they demonstrated won’t return overnight, but it won’t return at all unless leaders of party caucuses in Congress — and the voters who elect them — recognize that everyone loses when Congress doesn’t act on important legislation, beginning with a timely annual budget.
The post of Senate majority leader isn’t in the Constitution, unlike the House speaker. Created a century ago, it achieved its current status only under Johnson, who served with Republican President Dwight Eisenhower, then became the only former majority leader ever elected president.
Many Mainers believe Mitchell would have been a good president. What’s almost beyond dispute is that he was an excellent Senate majority leader. Few of his predecessors and none of his successors have achieved nearly as much.
Beyond the 2016 presidential race, we must hope that, somehow, the Senate will find a leader as capable in our time as Mitchell was in his. That decision will be critical to whether the next president succeeds or not.
Douglas Rooks has commented on Maine politics for 32 years. He is the author of “Statesman: George Mitchell and the Art of the Possible.”