The University of Miami’s George P. Hanley Democracy Center held its second event at the University Libraries Kislak Center on Monday evening.
The Democracy Center director, Gregory Koger, professor of political science, welcomed the audience to a session called: “What is Congress doing for you?”
The conversation featured former congressman Carlos Curbelo, a Republican who served as U.S. representative for Florida's 26th congressional district from 2015 to 2019, and Donna E. Shalala, a Democrat and former congresswoman for Florida’s 27thDistrict, former president of the University of Miami, and former Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Clinton administration.
Koger said that the center’s mission was to “understand democratic politics and to make our students and faculty understand how our society is governed.”
Koger acted as moderator and asked the panelists several questions.
What did you like the most about serving in Congress?
Curbelo: What I enjoyed most about Congress was the people. Everyone there is representing their community. They all have a mission, and they are trying to achieve something that is very meaningful to them. Once you leave, it is over. But you do take away the relationships.
Shalala: I loved being in Congress. I begged Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to let me work on the Rules Committee. It is a small committee. Every piece of legislation has to go through Rules. You just learned a lot and you get to see a range of members of Congress. The Rules Committee is basically the speaker’s committee.
The Dems gave you a list of how to vote, but I did not always look at it. I listened to the conversation. Even though I was a freshman, I got to manage all the health care legislation. I got to do something no freshman gets to do. Pelosi used to say: “She is a freshman, but she is not a rookie.”
Why did so many Republicans oppose Kevin McCarthy?
Curbelo: We saw the divisions that exist inside the Republican Party in full display. We saw the willingness of members to make those divisions public and embarrass their own leaders.
In the 1970s, television cameras were introduced into the House chambers and some members became very opportunistic about exploiting that new publicity. What we are seeing is the legacy of all of that, and that is why House Republicans ground Congress to a halt in this session—refusing to give McCarthy the votes needed to take the gavel.
McCarthy was elected Speaker, but he is one of the weakest speakers because it was so obvious how divided his conference was. He will be hostage to the group that denied him the vote for a whole week.
Shalala was asked how Pelosi and others passed the torch to new Democratic members of the House, Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark, and Pete Aguilar.
Shalala: Pelosi paid attention to the next generation and so it was a peaceful transition with few challenges. It was all prearranged and they were tested in second-tier jobs. Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, U.S. Representative from Maryland, nurtured them for leadership. They were bringing up a new generation. They put them on the policy committees.
Pelosi really made an effort for new members of Congress to get leadership opportunities. It was very deliberate.
Was there a time when the party wanted you to vote one way and you did not want to vote that way?
Shalala: Bobby Rush, who was a pretty radical member of Congress from Chicago and one of the famous Chicago Four, introduced a bill on Cuba. It was a pro-Cuba bill. It was a nightmare for a group of us from South Florida. Everybody was panicking.
Years ago, when I was Secretary of Health, I had done Rush a favor. I had campaigned for him. I called his office and told him to withdraw this bill. He pulled the bill.
Koger brought up the issue of the U.S. debt ceiling, which hit its maximum level in January and by summer the Treasury Department may be unable to prevent a default. A default would be devastating, and it is not clear whether Congress will raise the debt ceiling. How do you think this will play out?
Curbelo: Institutions require people of good will and people who are willing to negotiate in good faith. There is a potential for disaster here with this situation because there is a small but significant number of Republicans who can hold the entire government hostage when congressional action is needed. There are Republicans in the House who are willing at any cost to try to advance their personal political agendas.
We need people of good faith to act on legislation. You should leverage to a point. What is more important—personal goals or protecting the country? The economy is fundamental for our welfare. The truth is no one will know how this will be resolved. There is a group that is willing to take matters to the brink.
It will take a lot of heavy lifting for speaker McCarthy to come up with a plan that Republicans will support and make sure that is something democrats can support. I don’t see a policy today that checks all those boxes.
Shalala: I don’t think we should have a debt limit. They will go down to the edge and then cut some kind of a deal.
McCarthy’s problem is to find cuts that may be acceptable to the Democrats, and the Democrats’ problem is what cuts can they accept. I think we may go to a technical default.
Curbelo: I do think we need fiscal reform in this country. We cannot continue drawing deficits at this rate. It is not healthy. We should have a bipartisan discussion on fiscal reform including Social Security and Medicare. All these politicians say that there is nothing we can do to Social Security. That is nonsense, people are living longer now. We have to constantly reform these programs, so they are consistent with what is happening in the country.
Shalala: He [Curbelo] is clearly not going to run again! We have had bipartisan efforts to look at Social Security and if we should increase the age requirement. But Social Security is the third rail of American politics.
