! ! “The!Gingrich!Senators,!! the!Tea!Party!Senators,!! and!Their!Effect!on!the!U.S.!Senate”! ! ! ! ! Sean%M.%Theriault% ! ! Government%Department% 1%University%Station%A1800% The%University%of%Texas%at%Austin% Austin,%TX%%78701%
[email protected]% 512E232E7279% 512E471E1061%(fax)% % % % % January%13,%2013% % Over%the%last%thirty%years,%the%increasing%party%polarization%in%the%Senate%can%be% explained%almost%entirely%by%one%group:%“The%Gingrich%Senators,”%which%Theriault%(2008)% and%Theriault%and%Rohde%(2012)%define%as%those%Republicans%who%entered%the%House% after%Gingrich’s%election%in%1978%and%subsequently%moved%to%the%Senate.%%In%2011,%the% Gingrich%Senators,%helped%elect%a%new%breed%of%senator:%the%Tea%Party%Senators.%%In%this% paper,%I%analyze%the%role%that%the%Gingrich%Senators%and%their%predecessors,%the%Tea%Party% Senators,%had%on%the%Senate.%%In%short,%on%most%dimensions%both%groups%are%similarly%act% as%party%polarizers%and%partisan%warriors,%which%is%in%stark%contrast%to%the%other% Republicans%in%the%Senate.% % % % % % ! ! The!Gingrich!Senators,!the!Tea!Party!Senators,!and!Their!Effect!on!the!U.S.!Senate! ! 2% Most Americans have recoiled at what their Congress has become. After a recent poll showing congressional approval in the single digits, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) concluded that the only congressional supporters these days include “blood relatives and paid staff.”1 In an article titled, “Our Broken Senate,” Norman Ornstein, the dean of political pundits, argued that “the Senate had taken the term ‘deliberate’ to a new level… In many ways, the frustration of modern governance in Washington – the arrogance, independence, parochialism – could be called ‘The Curse of the Senate.’” He concludes that the problem with the Senate is the “the culture” and that “is not going to change anytime soon.”2 This chorus of dysfunction in the Senate is given its clearest voice as senators are on their way out the door.