Bob Michel on the Record

A Blueprint for Leadership: Office of the Republican Leader, April 16, 1993

 This is a blueprint for House Republicans in the formulation, communication, and implementation of policy, for the 103rd Congress. We can no longer depend on or look to the White House for policy direction. The challenge of our new situation is to shape the Republican view of America, tell the American people what we believe in, and fully utilize our legislative skills to implement our vision.

 We need a study guide for Republican action, a basic document outlining areas of policy responsibility, mechanisms for communication, and structures for implementation to which we can refer not just on one issue, but on all the challenges we face. This blueprint is just that — a document. It will not work by itself. It can become an integral part of -- and aid to — carrying out our duties only if we all are willing to make it work.

I. Coordination of Policy

Leadership Meetings (Tuesday 9:00 a.m.)

 Preview Floor action for the week and finalize Republican strategy (include appropriate ranking Republican Members )

 Discussion of legislative business on the Floor for the next two weeks, including a discussion of committee amendments and possible Rules Committee action.

 Recommendations from Leader's Roundtable.

 Discussion of political environment, including a report from the NRCC.

 Reports from Policy and Research.

Theme Team (Tuesday 10:30 a.m.)

 Coordinate One-Minutes for the week, hand out assignments.

Whip Meetings (Tuesday 11:15 a.m.)

 Preview Floor action for the week, present strategy from Leadership meeting.

 Discussion of Floor strategy, possible votes and whip checks.

 Discussion of themes for the week.

Policy Committee Forum (Tuesday 1 :00 p.m.)

 Hold open forums on resolutions presented to the Conference.

 Hold open forums on future legislation, Task Force reports, public issues of the day.

 Discussion of themes for the week.

Communications Advisory Group (Tuesday 4:30 p.m.)

 Develop communications plan for short and long term issues.

 Explore new communications venues.

Conference (Wednesday)

 Consider resolutions from the Policy Committee.

 Consider resolutions brought from the Leader or by petition.

 Inform Members of legislative activity through the Digest, Bulletin Board, Boarding Pass, etc.

House Leaders Roundtable (Thursday 3 :00 p.m.)

 Regular Discussion of Strategy and Tactics.

 Discuss Administration and Congressional Majority activities/Republican response.

 Discuss upcoming committee agendas/Republican response.

 Report from Rankings on upcoming Floor action and Republican strategy.

 Meetings/Breakfast with Leadership and Ranking Republicans.

Policy Committee Executive Session (Thursday 1:00 p.m.)

 Policy Committee votes on Statement to be referred to Conference for action.

Senior Staff Meeting (Friday 9 :00 a .m.)

 Discussion of legislative schedule for the upcoming week by committee staff.

 Discussion of pending committee action for upcoming Floor action.

Legislative Assistants Briefing (Friday 10 a.m.)

 Briefing by committee staff for LAs on legislative schedule for the upcoming week.

II. Profiles of Leadership Offices

A. Leader's Office

B. Whip's Office

C. Republican Conference

1. Vice-Chairman
2. Secretary

D. Republican Policy Committee

E. Republican Research Committee

F. National Republican Congressional Committee

Press Secretary Briefing (Friday 11:00 a.m.)

 Brief member offices on upcoming legislation, schedule special guests and speakers.

 Provide information on leadership activities, future legislative actions and related issues.

 Serve as a forum for member office press activities, utilize resources of Republican Communications Association (RCA) and other offices.

 Provide professional training and resources for member press secretaries.

Leadership Staff Meeting (Monday 2:00 p.m.)

 Leadership Staff meet to discuss schedule for upcoming week.

 Discussion of agenda for Leadership meeting.

Coordination of Floor Operations

 Coordination of information flow and Floor activity.

 Provide accurate and timely information to Members and offices.

Coordination with NRCC

 Key floor votes will be tracked by Leadership and coordinated with the NRCC.

Coordination with Senate Republicans

 Joint House/Senate Leadership meetings.

 Meet with outside experts on issues for issue development/support.

 Joint House/Senate Ranking members meetings.

Coalition Building

 Develop and implement operation to enable the development of working legislative coalitions with the majority.

 Meet with outside groups to coordinate support for Republican efforts.

Bob Michel on the Record

Bicentennial of The United States Congress, 1789-1989

To celebrate Congress Week 2015, The Dirksen Congressional Center has digitized the March 2, 1989, program “In Commemoration of The Bicentennial of The United States Congress, 1789-1989.” In addition to listing the speakers who participated in the Special Joint Meeting of the One Hundred First Congress, the program included quotations under the following headings:

 The Eyes of the World Are Upon You
 A Senate of Equals
 No Two House Members Alike
 The Other House
 Work Horses and Show Horses
 A Sore Trial to Presidents
 Knowing the Rules
 Congress at Work
 Power and Leadership
 Living with Criticism [featuring Everett McKinley Dirksen]

House Republican Leader Robert H. Michel delivered remarks at the event. His reading copy is posted at: http://www.robertmichel.name/bicentennial/bicentennialrhm.pdf.

Bob Michel on the Record

Michel Congressional Record Indexes

Entire Site Congressional Record Indexes

Indexes prepared by Michel’s staff to all references to him in the Congressional Record, 1957-1988. Searchable across years.

1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964
1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972
1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980
1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988

Bob Michel on the Record

The Federal Budget FY1991

Overview

The battle over the fiscal 1991 budget – which pitted Democrats against Republicans and sometimes the Republicans against themselves – took the entire 1990 session, locked the leadership into seemingly endless meetings, periodically exploded into nasty partisan name-calling, and delayed action on other pressing legislation.

Work was concentrated in a four-and-a-half month budget summit that extracted a heavy toll from both sides: President Bush retreated from his 1988 campaign pledge that he would not raise taxes, angering rank-and-file Republicans. House Democratic leaders were spurned by their members, who overwhelmingly rejected the product of the budget summit on the House floor.

In the end, frustrated and angry lawmakers were forced to stay in session closer to the fall elections than at any time since World War II before putting the finishing touches on a budget reconciliation bill, the centerpiece of the year’s fiscal work.

The result of their efforts was a budget package that promised to cut $42.5 billion from the deficit in fiscal 1991 and $492.2 billion over five years. The biggest cuts over five years came from discretionary spending, especially defense.

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View from the Michel Papers

Bob Michel’s Legislative Director, David Kehl, participated in many of the budget summit meetings in the summer of 1990. His files contain, for example, notes from meetings on June 7, 14, 19, 21, 27, 28, and 29, a good indication of the frenetic pace of negotiations.

The attached three-page notes from the June 29 meeting -- http://www.robertmichel.name/budgetmeeting06291990.pdf -- convey both the flavor of the negotiations and the quality of the historical documentation – information about the budget appears throughout the Michel Papers.

Meeting participants: Senator Robert Packwood (R-OR), Congressman Leon Panetta (D-CA), Congressman Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Senator James Sasser (D-TN), Senator Pete Domenici (R-AZ), Congressman Richard Gephardt (D-MO), Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady, Robert Michel (R-IL), Congressman William Gray (D-PA), Assistant to the President Richard Darman (mis-spelled in notes), and Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV).

Source: Robert H. Michel Papers, Staff Series, David Kehl Files, Box 9, f. Legislative Issues. Budget FY91 (2).

Bob Michel on the Record

How a Bill Becomes a Law; Writing Your Congressman

Bob Michel explains how laws are made and Morris K. Udall offer advice about writing members of Congress in this reprint from the Congressional Record.

How a Bill Becomes a Law; Writing Your Congressman

Bob Michel on the Record

Leadership Statements

This page provides links to the texts of Robert H. Michel's statements upon his election as Republican Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1980 until he announced his decision in 1993 not to seek re-election to the House.

All these documents require Adobe Acrobat Reader to view. This software is commonly installed on computers, but you can download it by clicking here.

To return to this page after viewing a document, use the "back" button on your browser.

NOTE: Because these documents number several pages in some cases and are posted as PDF files, download times can be lengthy.

December 8, 1980, Washington, DC
Source: Robert H. Michel Papers, Speech and Trip File.

December 6, 1982, Washington, DC
Source: Robert H. Michel Papers, Speech and Trip File.

December 3, 1984, Washington, DC
Source: Robert H. Michel Papers, Speech and Trip File.

December 8, 1986, Washington, DC
Source: Robert H. Michel Papers, Speech and Trip File.

December 5, 1988, Washington, DC
Source: Robert H. Michel Papers, Remarks and Releases.

December 3, 1990, Washington, DC
Source: Robert H. Michel Papers, Remarks and Releases.

December 5, 1992, Washington, DC
Source: Robert H. Michel Papers, Remarks and Releases.

October 4, 1993, Peoria, IL
Source: Robert H. Michel Papers, Remarks and Releases.

Bob Michel on the Record

Quotations

During the processing of Bob Michel's papers, staff discovered several copies of a compilation of quotes from Mr. Michel, bound in a red cover. The quotations are arranged, as they are in the booklet, alphabetically by subject.

Download Bob Michel's quotations at: http://www.robertmichel.name/rhmquotations.pdf.

Bob Michel on the Record

The Republican Congress: A Manifesto for Change in the House of Representatives

(Click on images to enlarge, click to return to original size)

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Bob Michel: "What I Would Do as Speaker of the House."	pgs 1-3
2. Newt Gingrich: "The Vision of the Republican Congress."	pgs 6-8
3. Terry Lewis: "Defense, The Peace dividend and the Deficit."	pgs 9-12
4. Mickey Edwards: "Reforming the Way We Do Business in the House."	pgs 13-14
5. Gerald Solomon: "A Working Committee System in the Republican House."	pgs 15-18
6. Vin Weber: "Reforming the Welfare State Under a Republican Congress."	pgs 19-20
7. Duncan Hunter: "National Security Under a Republican Congress."	pgs 21-23
8 . Bill Archer: "The Economy Under a Republican Congress."	pgs 24-32
9. Bill Gradison: "Bringing the Budget Under Control."	pgs 33-35
10. Norman Lent: "A National Energy Strategy Under a Republican Congress."	pgs 36-37
11. Bill McCollum: "Making Criminals Pay for Their Crimes."	pgs 38-40
12. Bill Thomas: "Making Elections More Competitive: Campaign Reform Under a Republican Congress."	pgs 41-49
13. Andy Ireland: "Easing the Burden: Small Business and a Republican Congress."	pgs 50-56
14. Bill Goodling: "Education Reform Under a Republican Congress."	pgs 57-63
15. Rod Chandler: "Health Care and a Republican Congress."	pgs 64-67

Appendix

1. David Broder, "Republicans Could Govern." The Washington Post, October 27, 1991.

2. Richard Cohen, "Congress in Distress." National Journal, January 18, 1992.

3. Robert Michel, Dick Armey, and William F. Goodling, "House Repairs: What We'll Do When We Reach Majority." Policy Review, January 1992.

4. Summary of House Committee Reforms Proposed by the House Republican Conference.

5. Summary of Comparative Data on the House of Representatives.

6. Major Republican Crime Bill Proposals.

7. Remarks by General Colin Powell, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff.

8. Department of Defense News Release, "DOD To Slow Pace of Modernization, Cut Strategic Nuclear Arsenal While Maintaining Essential Forces." January 29, 1991.