Dick Armey, Stepping Ahead To

Dick Armey, Stepping Ahead to ead `Yes' or `No'-Conservative Learns to Say 'Maybe—Even to M derates 51( Kan.), the party's presumptive pres dential nomi- By Guy Gugliotta nee. Washington Post Staff Writer In Gingrich's absence, House M 'ority Leader Dick Armey loves free markets, the balanced Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.) has ste ped forward, budget and the flat tax. He hates farm subsidies, the bringing with him an impeccable reput tion as a red- Commerce Department and the minimum wage. meat conservative with rough edges, who, even in He's not shy about saying what he thinks, and he his current job, often serves as the lea ership's ideo- doesn't play to the crowd. logical last line of defense. This is pe haps both his "You gotta understand," he told a group of high greatest strength and his weakness. school honor students from Florida who asked him Armey's suggestion Sunday on NB 's "Meet the about the future of federal education grants during a Press" that the government cut edu tion spending recent visit to the Capitol. "I'm not a big fan of the to fund the repeal of a 4.3 cents-per- allon gasoline federal government." tax prompted immediate cries of ou age from the Two months have passed since House Speaker Clinton administration. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), whose national popularity But inside the House, Armey wins r spect for hav- was sinking out of sight, "stepped back" from the ing the courage of his convictions and e willingness day-to-day legislative grind to raise money for GOP to state them. Both his friends and his nemies agree House candidates and coordinate reelection strate- that he doesn't lie, doesn't take ch ap shots and gy with Senate Majority Leader Robert J. Dole (R- See ARMEY, A4, Col. 2 ARMEY, From Al the wage is anathema to conservatives, he said. Instead of rolling ove now, wait a while doesn't stab colleagues in the back. With Ar- and craft an alternative proposal that creates mey, what you see is what you get. jobs and increases take-ho tt e pay. It was "a "The speaker thinks laterally rather than very forceful argument," 'd one leadership vertically . it's a really creative way to source who described the eeting, and it car- problem-solve," said freshman Rep. Mark Ed- ried the day. ward Souder (R-Ind.). "But it's an fflusory Saying "no" was vintage Armey, faithful to style. He's never pinned down, and you often his belief that "you should n ver do the wrong wonder what's going on." thing to reward your ene 'es." It was also With Armey, the microeconomist from music to conservative ears the kind of hard- Texas, this is never a problem. "He's much headedness that made him t e man the fresh- more straightforward," Souder said. "And if men wanted in the room • Clinton during you're in a straightforward group like the last year's budget battles. freshmen, you're much more comfortable And saying no also wa a "defining mo- with that." ment" for a GOP still stuns: by its defeats at But now Armey is being asked to do more. Clinton's hands, according to David Mason, Now it is Armey who takes the beating from vice president of the con rvative Heritage Democrats on the minimum wage, who urges Foundation and longtime ey ally. "They President Clinton to sign Congress's bills on [the Republicans] lost on the budget, and health care, product liability and missile de- they're trying to get back in the fight," Mason fense. It is Armey who chastises the presi- said. "If they had given up on the minimum dent for his threatened vetoes. wage, they would have been in full rout. And it is Armey who must smother his own You've almost got to give Armey the credit agenda to enlist help from GOP moderates all alone." whose support he must have to pass bills. He But although Armey may have stopped a is a "yes" or "no" person now called upon to GOP retreat, a week later he was worried say "maybe," and to do it diplomatically. that his harshness had alienated moderate Over the past two weeks, his colleagues supporters of the minimum wage who were have seen both sides. At a recent House lead- reluctant to fall on their swords during a ership meeting, it was Armey who blew the tough election year. whistle when Gingrich was about ready to al- "It's all well and good for me to talk about low a floor vote to raise the minimum wage. the minimum wage as a 'cruel hoax,' " he said Democrats were giving Republicans a fearful before a Republican conference meeting. "But beating on a popular issue, and the GOP was there are guys who are saying, 'There's Ar- thinking about cutting its losses, taking the mey standing high and dry pi the river bank, defeat and moving on. Not this way. counseled Armey. Raising i1,...;.,11/5 V IQ. -I/ LJ• 'When you talk to Dick Armey you know what he beli ves, and where he stands," Souder said. s approach is to ,apply those beliefs, and thin those confines to find 218 votes." If he 't find them, pragmatism will cause him to oderate his position, but, colleagues say, 's doesn't mean he's changed his mind. "He's easy o work with, but he's narrow," agreed Rep. harles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), a Brooklyn libe who worked with Armey for years to cut f programs. "He doesn't real-_ ly try to see e other person's viewpoint, but when you disa ee, he'll let you know." It troubles ey that his plainspoken con- servatism can come across as mean-spirited or evil-temp red, as it did on "Meet the Press." Yes, e acknowledged, "I have said `confrontation is a tool,' " but "I don't do an- ger—in my w de career here I cannot recall FRE PHOTO/BY JAMES k PARCELL-THE WASHINGTON POST a time when I as angry." House Speaker Newt Gingrich, flanked by Majority Whip Tom DeLay, left, and Majority Leader Still, it is a arently no picnic to cross him Richard K. Armey in December. In Gingrich's recent absence, Armey has stepped forward. on something he cares about. Souder and Rep. John B den Shadegg (R-Ariz.) recall and while I'm drowning, he's telling me that ment shared by much of the GOP caucus. trying to cir ate a letter in early 1995 nig- I'll learn to swim eventually.' " "Gingrich has been in and out," Souder said. ing colleagues to oppose the balanced budget Cold comfort, and during the conference a "Armey has been mostly the same." amendment ess it included a provision re- few hours later, he acknowledged as much. And Souder, like many of his colleagues, quiring a thre fifths House "supermajority" Stay with us, he told his colleagues, and there expects that Gingrich will reassert himself to raise taxes. will be a floor vote that will address the needs when the time is right. Gingrich remains the "The leade ship doesn't mind letters as of society's poor working families. GOP's main man, and "has to engage publicly, long as they d n't have the words `I will not And even though "I believe in my soul" that because we have no one else." vote for' in th m," Souder said. "They were raising the minimum wage is a bad idea, it Now 55, Armey is a tall, solid-looking man getting heartb ." Shadegg and Souder were may be there "in some form," said one leader- with a 1950s haircut, a PhD in economics sent individuall to Armey's office for serious ship source, quoting Armey. On that day, the from the University of Oklahoma and a good discussion. source said, the moderates "saw him at his ol' boy Dallas drawl that has all but erased his "Basically I as taken to the woodshed," best." roots in small-town North Dakota. Shadegg recall d. "Armey said, `You can't do For conservatives, dealing with Armey can Today he sports a pair of cowboy boots this.' I said we were going to do it. An hour be a relief, especially after the budget deba- with the seal of the House of Representatives cle. Freshman Rep. Charles Joseph Scarbor- later, we were going round and round. It on them and uses an office computer with a was fairly ag essive." Souder reported the ough (R-Fla.), an ardent crusader, said Gin- screen saver photograph of Dick Armey kiss- grich "could have been tougher" in the budget same experien e. "I understood we were on ing a bass. He is loaded with folksy good hu- the same page philosophically," Souder said. negotiations and suggested that the current mor and an endless stream of one-line apho- popular wisdom—that Gingrich is somehow a "But he was going that bringing down the risms culled mostly from country music balanced budge would bring us all down.* ; "moderate" and Armey a true conservative— lyrics. Chastened b t unconvinced, Souder went "is not inaccurate." But even at the beginning of his House ca- Anney blamed the budget crisis for briefly reer 12 years ago, most of this fooled nobody. back to the fl r, only to be grabbed by Gin-, blurring the division of labor between him and "From the moment he arrived, he was grich.

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