Florida Republicans in Congress need to assert bipartisan leadership | Editorial

Editorials are the opinion of The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board, not the Post's newsroom.

Updated on Oct. 11, 2023

Republicans in the Congressional Delegation of Florida should take the opportunity to help the House Republican Conference shrug off its budding Keystone Kops reputation and show the public something it hasn't seen from House Republicans in a very long time — principled political competence that addresses real needs.

Right now you might have better odds winning the Powerball. Florida's GOP representatives aren't showing signs of agreeing on a new House speaker, much less living up to their potential influence. Seven members failed to show up Tuesday at a delegation meeting to meet the two candidates for speaker — Reps. Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise. As one member told POLITICO: " ... we have not worked the process and operated as a team. And I think that's because people are more willing to put their political careers ahead of the needs of the state and the country."

If there were ever a time for your father's Republican Party to show up, this is it. An expanding war in the Middle East, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and a still-looming government shutdown are just a few of the issues in need of adult leadership. So far, the House Republican Conference hasn't risen to meet America's challenges, let alone face them with diligence or dignity.

More: The Civics Project: The Speaker of the U.S. House doesn't necessarily have to come from the House

Launching an "impeachment inquiry" in President Joe Biden with no evidence, obsessing over son Hunter Biden, opposing a rudimentary vote to raise the nation's debt ceiling, repeatedly failing to pass a temporary spending bill, the dubious inquiry into imagined federal-government bias against conservatives, stripping the pay of the U.S. Defense Secretary to a dollar — it all adds up to cheap theatrics and partisan distractions. And who can forget the 15-vote debacle that made California Republican Kevin McCarthy House Speaker and the one-man motion-to-vacate mess that took him out?

"This place is dysfunctional but, you know what? It's dysfunctional because of the Republicans," U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, a longtime Democratic House member who represents a portion of Palm Beach County, told the Post. "They are the ones fighting. And we can't really heal them. They have to heal themselves."

America needs a Speaker of the House

The Constitution gives the power of the purse strings to the U.S. House of Representatives. It is the chamber that authorizes the budget the president uses to pay for government programs. Fortunately, the Biden administration has enough money in the short term to help Israel, thanks to an Obama-era agreement that provides Israel with an ongoing $3.8 billion annual defense assistance appropriation. That funding, however, can only go so far.

America needs a House speaker, the person who has the power to move bills through the lower chamber and negotiate with Democrats who control the U.S. Senate and the White House. Unfortunately, going as far back as former speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan, Republican speakers have had little success winning over hardliners in their party who opposed working with Democrats. McCarthy was ousted for his bipartisan short-term funding bill.

The perception of ineptness isn't something Florida's Republican representatives should want hanging over their heads. They represent the nation's third-most-populous and fastest growing state. They are 20 members strong, second only to Texas in the number of GOP lawmakers in a state delegation. Most hold seats on key congressional committees important to Florida, like Agriculture, Appropriations, Energy and Commerce, and Science, Space and Technology and Ways and Means. Several have deep experience in government, having once served either in the Florida Legislature or as heads of state agencies. The numbers and potential clout are there. What's missing is the will to make all that effective.

House Republicans need a political makeover

Governing and getting things done aren't qualities typically associated with Republicans in Congress. Since winning the House majority in 2022, they have squandered their leadership, becoming increasingly strident and partisan as a feud festered between moderate representatives in their conference and a smaller but far more vocal group of right-wing hardliners, who exerted far more control over House Republican leadership than was warranted.

The potential for change is there. This week, House Foreign Affairs Chair Mike McCaul, R-Texas, called for a bipartisan congressional resolution condemning Hamas, and the House Republican Conference, apparently embarrassed by their members' role in the removal of McCarthy, have vowed to select a new speaker this week without the drama of weeks past. Small steps but necessary ones to re-establish a fully functioning government.

Poll after poll shows a growing frustration with the inability of both Democratic and Republican parties to work together to address important concerns. Republicans in the Florida delegation should assert themselves to get their conference to re-establish its leadership and find ways to act more in a bipartisan basis to move our government forward. The alternative is ongoing political paralysis that threatens America's prestige at home and abroad.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Congressional Republicans need to grow up and start governing