OPINION:
This month marks a big shift in power and direction in Washington, America and the world.
On Jan. 3, Republicans took control of the Senate and maintained control in the House. While the House majority is the narrowest in history, it is still a majority.
When combined with President-elect Donald Trump’s taking office on Jan. 20, a Republican trifecta will set the tone, advance an agenda and decide what to investigate and what to ignore.
This is a dramatic and bold change from the Biden-Schumer-Pelosi era.
We should not, however, exaggerate how much can be done. The House majority is narrow — and the Senate GOP majority is too small to overcome filibusters. For important, contentious policy initiatives, Republicans will have to use reconciliation bills, which require only majority votes.
Sen. John Thune is the new majority leader (and the first Republican leader other than Sen. Mitch McConnell in 18 years). He will be able to get a lot done. His first key steps will be getting Mr. Trump’s Cabinet confirmed by the Senate, and an enormous number of other appointments will require Senate confirmation. As a veteran of the House (1997-2003) and the Senate (2005 to the present), Mr. Thune has a good sense of the strengths and weaknesses of each body. A generation younger than Mr. McConnell, Mr. Thune will bring new energy and drive to get things done in the Senate.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has a much harder job; he has the hardest job in Washington. I was a reasonably effective speaker for four years. I could not possibly do the job Mr. Johnson has been doing. He has the patience of Job — and the calm inner strength to keep focusing on the work despite constant attacks.
The legitimately frustrated Republicans who attacked Mr. Johnson’s speakership have a deep misunderstanding of what is happening. Mr. Johnson’s personality is not the problem. The problem is conservatives’ failure to understand that important legislative victories require an all-out effort supported by the American people.
Rep. Jack Kemp worked for years to educate people about supply-side economics and build support for a three-year tax cut. When Ronald Reagan campaigned in 1980 on cutting taxes (and got a bipartisan majority to pass his three-year tax cut), he stood on Kemp’s shoulders.
Similarly, when we passed welfare reform in 1996, we completed a reform Reagan had proposed in 1965.
When we founded the Conservative Opportunity Society in 1983, we were committed to developing popular reforms that could arouse the American people to insist that Congress pass them. We met weekly and took to the floor to advocate ideas that we knew would resonate with voters.
We coordinated with House Republican leaders so that they were never surprised by our activism, but we never asked them for permission. We would disagree with them about tactics, but ultimately, we were careful to keep the team together. Over time, we developed a brand and a program popular enough to elect the first House Republican majority in 40 years.
The Contract with America in 1994 had issues that were consistently in the 60% to 80% approval range. Some of them — balancing the budget, reforming the House so it had to obey the same laws as small businesses did, replacing welfare with work — were so popular that we knew we would have a winning argument with any Democrat who opposed them.
We had to have overwhelmingly popular issues because we were negotiating with Democratic President Bill Clinton. He would sign things only if they were so popular he thought opposing them would guarantee his defeat. The general popularity of our program led Mr. Clinton to come to the 1996 State of the Union address and announce that “the era of big government is over.” Sitting behind him, I felt compelled to stand and applaud because he was rhetorically joining our side.
We could never have balanced the budget for four consecutive years (for the only time in the last century) without the overwhelming support of Americans.
Today, at America’s New Majority Project, we have identified dozens of issues that could attract 70% to 90% support from the American people.
Republicans need three key things going into this new era: the discipline to listen to the American people, the patience to educate and excite Americans about their agenda and the wisdom to pick fights only when they have overwhelming grassroots support.
A disciplined, patient and wise Republican team will set the stage for a remarkable 2026 election — and an amazing era in American politics.
• For more commentary from Newt Gingrich, visit Gingrich360.com. And subscribe to the “Newt’s World” podcast.
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