51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Linda Wertheimer, off camera, asks U.S. Senator Howard Baker (R-TN): "When the tax bill went through the first time, you had to hold all the Republicans together in order to pass it without Democratic help. Well, now, how did you do it? I understand you do it with a whole series of layers of meetings." Sen. Baker, seated with back to camera explains that he does have more meetings than he has mentioned, and looks out for "trouble points". When necessary, he meets with Senators one on one and sometimes brings in the Committee Chairman or Amendment Manager to see if any accommodations can be made. This can mean five or fifty meetings take place before he has enough Republicans on board. Sen. Baker tells a story where during the first Majority Republican conference in 1981, he had a party rebellion on raising the debt limit. He could not get the votes to do it and the Democrats weren't going to help. Baker drove home the point that, as the majority party, they had to govern, even it was politically unpleasant. The Republican Party has learned to shed the minority mindset and become more unified.