Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives Read Online Free PDF Page A

Jeff Duncan and hundreds of other Republican candidates—repeal Obamacare, fire Pelosi, choke off the spending, cut the taxes—a car dealer and Republican neophyte named Scott Rigell whipped Nye the incumbent Democrat by 10 points.
    A couple of days before Jeff Duncan selected Glenn Nye’s office for his own, the House Democrats met in HC-5 , the conference room in the Capitol basement, to rehash the midterm shellacking. Pelosi, now deposed as Speaker, had recently announced that she intended to run as the House minority leader. Nye was astounded by this news. He talked to several of his colleagues who had also lost on November 2. Pelosi’s decision was crazy, he told them—they had to speak up. Some agreed to do so. Others saw little point in complaining. Who in the Democratic caucus could beat Pelosi? She had all the votes she needed: the liberals, the Californians, the women, the Congressional Black Caucus. And the Democratic members most likely to oppose Pelosi’s bid were those who had just been beaten and therefore wouldn’t have a vote. The losers could bitch about it, but what good would it do?
    At the caucus, Nancy Pelosi did something unusual. She barred staff members from sitting in, because she wanted her colleagues to be able to speak frankly. “I’d like for us to hear from those who lost on November second,” the Speaker said.
    A long line formed at the mike stand. Some of the defeated blamed the economy. Others cited the intransigent Senate and the detached Obama White House. Still others recognized that they may well have been done in by the health care bill that had been so extravagantly vilified by the Republicans—but that they were proud to go down for such a noble cause.
    When it was Nye’s turn, he began by thanking the Speaker for leading the Democrats through difficult times. But, he went on, “You clearly became the face of the election in a way that harmed a lot of us. Fair or not, the Republicans were able to paint you with an image that dragged us down.
    “It’s up to me to win my race,” said the defeated freshman. “I get that. But this is a moment where we have to be honest with ourselves. We have to accept your role in these defeats. And it’s going to be much harder for someone like me to run again if you’re the party leader.Because instead of running a race where it’s me against the other guy, I’ll be dealing with the same ads. The same framing I can’t get away from.”
    When he was finished, Nancy Pelosi nodded and said nothing. Another defeated member stood up to talk, then another. The caucus lasted nearly five hours.
    Glenn Nye didn’t stay for the end of it. Instead, he went back to Cannon 116 and began packing up.

CHAPTER TWO
    The Dean
    At a weeknight party for the ninety-six incoming freshmen (including nine Democrats) in the solarium of a Washington hotel, an old man materialized from the sea of fresh faces. He made his way to an open area by means of a walker—a bald and bespectacled yet not quite frail figure who with his stooped posture was still taller than most of the others in the crowd. He leaned into a microphone and in an arid voice began to talk to the guests about the House of Representatives, where they would soon be serving, the place where he had served the past fifty-five years, longer than any other United States congressman in its history.
    “It is an institution that is often demeaned,” said the old man. “Usually during campaigns.”
    Through his glasses, the blue eyes glared meaningfully at the much younger men and women fresh off the campaign trail.
    “But it is an institution composed of people who pride themselves on being public servants,” he went on. “And I’m pleased to tell you that most of the members who come here do so to serve and look after people and do important things.”
    Without benefit of notes, the old man proceeded to bless them with a quote from Daniel Webster’s famed discourse at Plymouth: Let us