The Week

Ted Kennedy has apparently joined those urging President Clinton to order an invasion. It isn’t known whether he favors a permanent occupation of Pizza Hut headquarters.

The most effective veto on the Hill now may not be Bill Clinton’s but Representative Nancy Johnson’s. The Connecticut moderate gets a disproportionate say in the House Republican Conference, which makes for a leftward drag on GOP positions. Refusing to apply the “Nancy Johnson test” will be crucial in formulating the ten-point election program Newt Gingrich plans to unveil in September. Mr. Gingrich wants it to be bold and specific. Here’s how. Crime: Give each state the equivalent of 2 per cent of the federal income taxes paid by its citizens to be devoted to police, prisons, and courts (as set forth in the Jim Sensenbrenner bill in the House). Otherwise, just get out of the way, restricting the jurisdiction of federal judges over state prisons (the Charles Canady bill) and removing the procedural obstacles judges have stuck in the way of police over the years. Welfare: Cut off single, able-bodied adults and single mothers under the age of 21, require 50 per cent of the caseload to work (as opposed to about 6 per cent in the Clinton plan), and cap all welfare spending (Jim Talent’s bill in the House, Lauch Faircloth’s in the Senate). Taxes: Start with a $750 family tax credit for each child (upping the ante slightly from the Republican alternative budget). Spending: Fund the tax credits with across-the-board spending cuts (the mechanism can be pulled from the spending controls in Dick Armey’s flat-tax proposal), and push for an A-to-Z-style spending-cut free-for-all. Immigration: Impose a moratorium (along the lines of Bob Stump’s bill, which already has 54 Republican and 19 Democratic co-sponsors) while a new long-term policy is hammered out. Affirmative action: Eliminate all race and gender preferences in federal hiring, promotion, contracts, and regulations (such as those imposed on institutions of higher education). And the test to ensure that these ideas would create a sharp contrast between the GOP and the Democrats? Nancy, do you feel uncomfortable yet?

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William F. Buckley Jr.

Grammar

Ted Kennedy has apparently joined those urging President Clinton to order an invasion. It isn’t known whether he favors a permanent occupation of Pizza Hut headquarters.

The most effective veto on the Hill now may not be Bill Clinton’s but Representative Nancy Johnson’s. The Connecticut moderate gets a disproportionate say in the House Republican Conference, which makes for a leftward drag on GOP positions. Refusing to apply the “Nancy Johnson test” will be crucial in formulating the ten-point election program Newt Gingrich plans to unveil in September. Mr. Gingrich wants it to be bold and specific. Here’s how. Crime: Give each state the equivalent of 2 per cent of the federal income taxes paid by its citizens to be devoted to police, prisons, and courts (as set forth in the Jim Sensenbrenner bill in the House). Otherwise, just get out of the way, restricting the jurisdiction of federal judges over state prisons (the Charles Canady bill) and removing the procedural obstacles judges have stuck in the way of police over the years. Welfare: Cut off single, able-bodied adults and single mothers under the age of 21, require 50 per cent of the caseload to work (as opposed to about 6 per cent in the Clinton plan), and cap all welfare spending (Jim Talent’s bill in the House, Lauch Faircloth’s in the Senate). Taxes: Start with a $750 family tax credit for each child (upping the ante slightly from the Republican alternative budget). Spending: Fund the tax credits with across-the-board spending cuts (the mechanism can be pulled from the spending controls in Dick Armey’s flat-tax proposal), and push for an A-to-Z-style spending-cut free-for-all. Immigration: Impose a moratorium (along the lines of Bob Stump’s bill, which already has 54 Republican and 19 Democratic co-sponsors) while a new long-term policy is hammered out. Affirmative action: Eliminate all race and gender preferences in federal hiring, promotion, contracts, and regulations (such as those imposed on institutions of higher education). And the test to ensure that these ideas would create a sharp contrast between the GOP and the Democrats? Nancy, do you feel uncomfortable yet?