by Don Kazak
House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the Republican leadership made history by considering all the items of their Contract with America on schedule. But those first 100 days of the 104th Congress weren't easy for Democrats, Rep. Anna Eshoo said, particularly when the legislative process itself was affected. Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, is back on the Peninsula for the break following the dizzying first three months of the Republican rush to get legislation written and presented in committees and on the House floor.
Eshoo gives the Republicans credit, though, for doing what they said they were going to do.
"The Republicans proved that things can move in the Congress," she said last week. "That's one thing I'll give the Republicans credit for."
Eshoo said she agrees with some of the items that were considered, like term limits and the line-item veto. She also believes in the need for welfare reform, although she differs with the particulars that the Republicans want, she said.
What concerns her most, however, is how the rush to get bills written and passed reduced the debate on the issues.
Eshoo said that at one point she was asked to vote on a bill in committee that the committee clerk was still passing out, and which Eshoo hadn't seen yet.
She said she protested to Rep. Thomas Bliley Jr., R-Virginia, her committee chairman. She said Bliley was sympathetic to her plight and replied that he had already made the same point to Gingrich and the House leadership. The reply back to Bliley, Eshoo said, was that the speaker wanted the bill by a certain hour, period.
At other times, Eshoo said committee members were asked to vote on something without discussion, and were also given a deadline for submitting amendments to proposed bills. Both are breaks with tradition in Congress.
"Public hearings were also short-circuited on the Contract with America bills," Eshoo said.
Eshoo said the extended schedule of time in session in the first three months of the 104th Congress also meant she had little time for her constituents. "I think my constituents were shortchanged," Eshoo said, noting that she hasn't held a town hall meeting yet this year.
Gingrich, of course, has been a force in the House. And while Eshoo had already served for two years with him, she has now watched him wield power and keep his own troops in rank.
"He is gifted," she said of Gingrich. "He can say things that make people listen. But he does represent the far right of his party, and that's very different from this district."
Eshoo is also critical of Gingrich. "I don't think he brings people together," she said. Many people who watched his recent television address were impressed with him, she acknowledged. "Gingrich sounded conciliatory on television," she said. "But he is not a conciliatory person."
Back home, Eshoo has tried to heal some of the wounds she suffered in the district for her North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) vote in November 1993. At that time, local environmentalists, labor leaders and peace activists were furious with her for her pro-NAFTA vote.
Last week, however, Eshoo was the keynote speaker at a Peninsula Conservation Center dinner.
"They're still not pleased with how that vote went," said Stephanie Hughes, executive director of the Peninsula Conservation Center. "But there are so many other important issues, and we need to be supporting her as one of the strong environmental voices in Congress."
In fact, Eshoo got a 100 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters in Washington recently for her 1994 votes on environmental issues.
And while labor was also mad at her for NAFTA, she did get a 92 percent rating from the AFL-CIO in Washington for her 1993 votes on labor issues, which included the NAFTA vote. The AFL-CIO gave her a 89 percent rating for her 1994 votes.
Others, however, are still angry.
Peace activist Peggy Law faced off against Eshoo in a tumultuous debate in Palo Alto just before the NAFTA vote. And Law said that Eshoo hasn't healed many of those wounds.
"She's tried hard to, but she isn't succeeding in bridging the old gaps," Law said.
Law said that the recent economic turmoil in Mexico, including the devaluation of the peso, is an indication that NAFTA has hurt Mexico.
"It hasn't been any help economically to people at the bottom of the scale, who are mostly women and minorities," Law said.
"The devaluation of the peso is not the same as the trade agreement," Eshoo replied, "and the trade agreement didn't bring it about."
Meanwhile, when she soon heads back to Washington, Eshoo will be working on legislation that should be of strong interest to many of her Silicon Valley constituents--the Telecommunications Reform Act. The bill could affect such things as the Internet and computer communications in general. Eshoo is on the Commerce Committee, which will play a key role in forming the legislation, and she also is on the subcommittee that deals with telecommunications.
The bill, she said, "in many ways will shape the next century. This is all new."
"The Republicans proved that things can move in the Congress. That's one thing I'll give the Republicans credit for."
"(Gingrich) can say things that make people listen. But he does represent the far right of his party, and that's very different from this district."
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