The New Republic

On most days, the lobby of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Washington, D.C., headquarters has a certain rarefied air. But on this Tuesday morning it is thick with the smell of greasy, grilled bacon. The aroma is appropriate, since the breakfast speaker is Republican Representative Bud Shuster of Pennsylvania, chairman of the House Transportation Committee and, his critics say, one of the most shameless promulgators of pork-barrel spending in all of Congress. READ MORE >>

Last month, after outraged moderates cornered him over a harsh anti-regulatory bill, Newt Gingrich bowed to their pleas and yanked it off the floor. A few days later a different group, this time angry hard-core freshmen, surrounded Majority Leader Dick Armey in his office. Fed up with the Speaker’s bleeding-heart betrayals, they sought a new commander for the revolution. “The truth is,” freshman Representative Steve Largent said later, “Newt is no longer the polar right.” READ MORE >>