Boehner to bring ‘change’ we can believe in?

The Politico reports today on how soon-to-be-House Speaker John Boehner plans to try and shake up the appropriations process as soon as the  112^th Congress convenes in January (via Memeorandum):

House Republicans seem intent on blowing up the staid appropriations process when they take power in January — potentially upending the old bulls in both parties who have spent decades building their power over the federal budget.

The plans include slicing and dicing appropriations bills into dozens of smaller, bite-size pieces — making it easier to kill or slash unpopular agencies. Other proposals include statutory spending caps, weekly votes on spending cuts and other reforms to ensure spending bills aren’t sneakily passed under special rules.
On some level, their plans may create a sense of organized chaos on the House floor — picture dozens of votes on dozens of federal program cuts and likely gridlock on spending bills. And don’t forget that a lot of these efforts will die with a Democratic-led Senate and a Democrat in the White House.

But the intent is to force debate as much as to actually legislate — and make Old Guard Republicans and Democrats uncomfortable with a new way of thinking about the size and scope of government.

Insiders who have made a living under the old system are sure to push back, and many fear that Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) may not understand what he is doing.

“John should talk with the professional appropriators about the complexities, rather than talk off the top of his head. His plans would take a huge amount of the House’s time, but what would it accomplish?” said a dubious former House Republican member of the Appropriations Committee who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Hmmm. Boehner’s been serving in government since 1985  – starting at the state level in the Ohio state legislature, and then at the federal level in the US House since 1991, often in various leadership positions.  I suspect he knows how the appropriations process works at this poitn.

That said, who knows if his game plan will work? Will be interesting to see.  As long as it’s not just pure symbolism, I’m on board with trying alternatives to the current process in the interests of fiscal restraint and responsibility, and getting this country back on track.  If it turns out to be nothing more than a symbolic gesture designed to make him and other GOPers appear as though they are trying to do something, he can best bet that GOP voters will take note and act accordingly come November 2012 (and that goes for Senate Republicans, too).  As I’ve said before, voters are making their representatives in the House and Senate more accountable than they have in previous years – as this past month’s election indicates , and have sent a strong signal to The Powers That Be: Business As Usual will no longer be tolerated.