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 enate
Majority Leader Trent Lott confirmed today a blockbuster trade that
will send Zell Miller, the Georgia
Democrat, to
the Republicans in exchange for Vermont's Jim Jeffords and a liberal
Republican to be named later. Speculation is that the politician
to be named later will be ultra-liberal House member Jim Greenwood
of Pennsylvania.
The trade has
been rumored for months, ever since Miller announced that he would
vote for the Bush tax plan, much to the annoyance of his Democratic
colleagues. The relationship between Miller and Senate Minority
Leader Tom Daschle has been icy from the start of this term, and
the damage became irreparable when Miller declared last week that
"congressional Democrats were no longer the party of JFK, a
progressive tax cutter."
Meanwhile,
Jeffords has been an irritant within his own party, especially of
late, when he voted first against the Bush tax cut plan, then against
a scaled back tax cut voted on last week. Mr. Daschle could hardly
contain his glee over the trade, saying, "In Jim Jeffords we've
now inserted into our line-up a reliable vote against tax cuts for
the rich." Daschle went on to describe Jeffords as a cagey
veteran of Congress who can "almost always be counted on to
vote against trickle down economics and for more social spending.
His record for progressive causes is really impeccable."
Daschle also
said that he was sorry to have to deal away Zell Miller, but that
the affable Georgian "never really fit in with Democratic party
here in Washington." "All Zell wanted to talk about was
tax cuts this, tax cuts that. We tried to explain to him the importance
of the Social Security lock box, Medicare prescription-drug benefits,
and more money for education, but to no avail." Daschle described
Miller as "totally entranced with the voodoo philosophies of
the GOP." The final straw for the Democrats came late last
week when Miller sponsored a bill to cut the capital-gains tax.
Not all Democrats
were pleased about this mid-session trade. "In adding Jim Jeffords
to our caucus," said Evan Bayh, the chairman of the Democratic
Leadership Conference, "we continue to tilt our party further
to the left fringe of the political spectrum. We're no longer even
spittin' distance from the sensible center," he fumed.
Jeffords said
he had little regret in switching parties. "I didn't leave
the GOP. The party left me. There's far too much Reagan and far
too little Rockefeller in the Republican party these days for my
taste." Jeffords briefly considered joining fellow-Vermonter
Bernie Sanders of the House as a member of the Socialist party,
but said it would be more practical to become a Democrat. "Anyways,
there really isn't that much of a philosophical difference between
the two," he said.
The deal almost
fell through when the Democrats rejected the one for one swap, insisting
that Miller has a longer and more distinguished career ahead of
him than Jeffords. That's when Republicans agreed to throw in a
liberal House member to seal the deal. RNC Chairman Jim Gilmore
conceded that "it will probably be Jim Greenwood of Pennsylvania
who will be sent over to the Democrats, but there are so many liberal
Republicans to choose from, it could be anyone of 25 House members."
Miller says
he joins up with the GOP with some trepidation. "I'm terribly
concerned that I may be too conservative for the congressional Republicans,"
he complained.
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