Federal Judiciary

If I had a dollar for every conservative I?ve heard say that -- sarcastically -- about Republican senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky, I could easily buy lunch at the D.C. Caucus Room restaurant -- and keep the wine flowing.

Senator Bunning was making headlines for filibustering a bill to extend unemployment benefits. For days, I read and listened as he was accused of single-handedly holding the Senate -- and down-on-their-luck, out-of-work Americans -- hostage. He was doing this, if some of the media coverage was to be believed, because he didn?t care about anyone or anything except whatever point he was selfishly trying to make. The Washington Post described him as ?angry and alone, a one-man blockade against unemployment benefits, Medicare payments to doctors, satellite TV to rural Americans and paychecks to highway workers.?

But Bunning?s point was worth making. These unemployment payments are extra-budgetary. The federal government doesn?t have the money for them: It has to borrow to make these payments. Media folk and others might feel quite comfortable condemning Bunning -- the lazy story is ?Mean Republican seeks to hurt the unemployed? -- but how about listening instead?

His point, in his own words, was: ?If we cannot pay for a bill that all 100 senators support, how can we tell the American people with a straight face that we will ever pay for anything? That is what senators say they want, and that is what the American people want.?

That?s a question that?s going to launch more than a few tea parties and get a few people like Scott Brown elected to seats no one would ever have predicted they?d win.

That magical stimulus bill Vice President Biden keeps defending is what launched this round of extended unemployment benefits, which is now turning into a seemingly endless cycle (almost a hundred weeks and counting) of added extensions. That?s what Bunning wanted Congress to be held accountable for. That?s what he wanted Congress to make actual cuts in other spending in order to fund.

Contrary to what the Democratic party wants us to believe, Republicans occasionally do utter a word other than ?No.? Jim Bunning certainly did. He audaciously proposed actually paying for the endless stream of unemployment benefits. And for that he was proclaimed an enemy of the people. By the media. By the Democrats. By members of his own party.

Maine Republican Susan Collins, a frequent thorn in the side of her fellow Republicans (though this time she was part of a large crowd), declared that Bunning?s position did ?not represent a majority of the Republican caucus.? She was unfortunately right. He failed. And only 19 senators ultimately objected to the continued deficit spending.

This from a Congress that has pretended -- at least, the Democrats in the majority have -- that it is all about paying as it goes. ?PAYGO? is the legislation that it just put in place last month, legislation that this Congress subsequently has serially waived so that it doesn?t, in fact, need to pay as it goes.

Collins turned her back on Bunning, and so did many other Republicans -- too many. But I?ll tell you this, for what it?s worth: On Capitol Hill that week, I met many younger staffers who were cheering Bunning on. I couldn?t help thinking of my first days in Washington, when I encountered a young Hill staffer from Wisconsin named Paul Ryan. Now, of course, he?s a congressman himself, and his expertise and hard work on health-care reform and fiscal responsibility have earned him the attention of even the condescender-in-chief, Barack Obama.

So don?t get too cynical about Congress. Instead, the next time a Jim Bunning takes a stand, encourage him. The next time a senator or congressman steps out into the firing line to do something sensible and responsible, defend him from the inevitable attacks. I remember hearing a priest once remind the congregation he was preaching to, ?When your pastor does something good or inspiring, thank him. People often don?t.? It?s the same for any kind of leader -- maybe even more so for members of a legislative body that has the kind of approval ratings that would get most of us fired.

Encourage a Jim Bunning, because there are Jim Bunnings taking on the PAYGO lie who aren?t retiring this year. In fact, some of them have just arrived. The new senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, has introduced legislation that would return upwards of $80 billion in unused stimulus funds to taxpayers over six months, in the form of a payroll-tax cut. It may not change lives or change Washington, but it?s the right thing to do, which is a good start. (Legislators don?t always need to be revolutionary, just right and responsible.) The election in November will bring more fresh faces to Congress -- and, with them, a new generation of bright young staffers who will be encouraged to discover that the public appreciates it when their representatives do the right thing.

-- Kathryn Jean Lopez is editor-at-large of National Review Online. She can be reached at klopez@nationalreview.com.

Full post as published by Bench Memos - National Review Online on March 08, 2010 (boomark / email).