WORDS AND TITLES DO MATTER; GOP PLAYING THE NAME GAME

Washington, D.C.-- The new Republican majority in the House of Representatives says that it wants to reform the way government does business. Much of what it's done so far, however, has been either symbolic or designed not to achieve policy change but to "stick it" to Democrats.

This superficial effort includes renaming committees and subcommittees to give them names that reflect the Republican agenda. House Republicans have renamed several Congressional committees by changing or removing certain words such as "civil rights" and "labor" from their titles. Some may call this action petty and insignificant and shouldn't be given a second thought-- we at the Voice Reporter think it deserves greater attention.

Now, the Education and Labor Committee became the Education and Workforce Committee, while the Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties is set to be renamed the Constitution Subcommittee.

This is not the first time that the Education and Labor Committee has been renamed. A Republican-run House led by Newt Gingrich first changed the committee name to Education and the Workforce in 1994 to demonstrate anti-union policies; when Democrats regained control of the House in 2006, they changed the name back to Education and Labor.

Some labor leaders feel that the most recent switch represents a message similar to that of the Gingrich-era House. This action is an affront and a strategic attack on the working families of America, period.

Bill Samuel, director of government affairs at the AFL-CIO, told The Hill newspaper that Gingrich's House used the Education and Workforce Committee to "undermine the rights of the workers who want to bargain for a better standard of living." The newest committee name change "really does mean something. More than the rhetoric, they have a different agenda."

Chuck Loveless, director of legislation for AFSCME told The Hill, "We basically think this name change is symbolic of the new majority's hostility toward the rights of everyday working Americans."

Incoming committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minnesota) has been silent on the issue and has not made any public comments about the language change of the committees. Education and Workforce Committee communications Director Alexa Marrero told The Wall Street Journal, "Education and the Workforce was the name selected by Republicans more than a decade ago to reflect the committee's broad jurisdiction over policies that affect American students, workers, and retirees."

Congress founded the Education and Labor Committee in 1867. Kline, who also serves on the Armed Services Committee, was one of many House Republicans to introduce legislation that would repeal President Obama's health care overhaul, stating at the time, "Republicans are fulfilling our pledge to take up legislation that will repeal and replace the job-killing health care law ... The new Congress will make job creation and fiscal responsibility top priorities, and repealing ObamaCare is an important part of our efforts." The vote is set to take place sometime soon, although it is unlikely to pass in the Senate or a presidential veto. 

What no one is talking about is that this GOP healthcare repeal effort is going absolutely nowhere-- what a waste of energy and tax dollars-- all to embolden "party politics."  The Democratic Senate majority will never address any House bill on changing healthcare and moveover, is would have to be signed into law by the president which he would never do.

Again, the GOP has only been able to achieve symbolic posturing on their 2011 congressional resume so far.  Flipping the committee names again will not change the lives of average working Americans-- the GOP should think policy and substance rather than emblematic jesturing to affect real change.  But that would require hard work, bipartisanship and talent, wouldn't it?

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-New York), chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties since 2007, also spoke out against Republicans' plans to rename the panel and remove the words "civil rights" and "civil liberties."

"Once again, the new Republican majority has shown that it isn't quite as committed to the Constitution as its recent lofty rhetoric would indicate," Nadler said in a press release. "It has yet again shown its contempt for key portions of the document – the areas of civil rights and civil liberties - by banishing those words from the title of the Constitution Subcommittee."

Incoming Constitution Subcommittee Chairman and anti-abortion zealot Trent Franks (R-Arizona) was listed as the most conservative member of the House in 2010 by the National Journal. He previously said that black Americans received better treatment as slaves than they do today due to abortion, stating, "Far more of the African-American community is being devastated by the policies of today than they were being devastated by the policies of slavery."  These are the folks that are leading these committees?  This is the GOP talent?  You've got to be kidding me.

The Constitution Subcommittee has legal power over constitutional amendments, civil rights and ethics in government. Republicans have made a great deal of noise in recent days about standing up for the Constitution. But, in less than 48 hours, they revealed their true intentions.

In addition to reading selectively from the Constitution on the House floor in a much-exalted ceremony last week, Republicans also blatantly violated the Constitution by allowing two of their members to vote without having been sworn-in, and introduced unconstitutional legislation aimed at bypassing the 14th Amendment's citizenship clause. This has truly been an inauspicious beginning for the House Republicans.

With the Subcommittee name change, The GOP is once again telling Americans that only some parts of the constitution matter. Fundamental rights and liberties appear to have been dropped from the Constitution by far-right ideologues.

Finally, there's the Committee on Foreign Affairs, where Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) has stripped the words global environment from the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. She's also changed the name of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. The full committee's first hearing — scheduled for this week but postponed due to last weekend's tragic events — is being designed to bash the United Nations.

You don't think words matter? Well, obviously they do to the GOP. A message to all those voters who selected the GOP House majority:  Here is your new leadership at work in the House of Representatives-- at least until they change that name, too.

-Ove Overmyer  (This content reflects the opinion of the author exclusively and not CSEA as an organization.)