‘Blue Dogs’ grow

• By GERARD SHIELDS
• Advocate Washington bureau
• Published: Jul 6, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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WASHINGTON — Louisiana may be losing seniority in Congress, but two state Democratic delegation members are gaining strength through what has become the swing caucus in the House: The Blue Dog Coalition.

The muscle of the 47 fiscally and socially conservative Democrats is best explained in the sheer numbers. With the Democrats now holding a 37-vote lead in the House, the Blue Dogs have become the powerful voting bloc that can push legislation forward or stop it in its tracks.

U.S. Rep. Charles “Charlie” Melancon, D-Napoleonville, has been a member of the coalition since his election in 2004. But a newly elected Louisiana delegation member, U.S. Rep. Don Cazayoux, D-New Roads, is expected to join the group shortly.

“I think they’re going to be in a great position to help influence policy and help Louisiana,” said former U.S. Rep. Chris John, D-Crowley, an original Blue Dog.

“That’s where the power of the Blue Dogs lies,” John added. “If the majority stays close, the Blue Dogs can have an impact on public policy in a big way.”

Louisiana’s other Democratic House member, William Jefferson, of New Orleans, is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The power of the Blue Dog Coalition recently was displayed as the House negotiated an emergency war supplemental spending bill. Blue Dogs stalled the measure because it failed one of its basic tenets: “pay-as-you-go” rules.

The coalition allowed the measure to move forward in the House, but only after its members gained a commitment to pay for increased GI education benefits. The offset for the $51.8 billion cost was an increase of a half percent on the income tax for people making more than $1 million a year.

Though the provision was stripped out of the legislation in negotiations with the Senate, it showed the swinging door importance of the Blue Dogs.

“It’s not that we’re threatening,” Melancon said. “We can’t get out of this fiscal mess by digging the hole deeper.”

Backing the GI portion of the bill was tough for Cazayoux, who was accused during his recent campaign of supporting taxes during his days in the state legislature. Taxing millionaires seemed more palatable than targeting lower- or middle-income Americans, Cazayoux said. 

“Blue Dogs are the only fiscally conservative group in Congress,” Cazyoux said. “That’s their mission and they’re pretty serious about it.”

The coalition was formed in 1995 as a response to the Republican revolution of 1994, when the GOP took over the House. But it wasn’t until Democrats gained the majority in 2006 that the Blue Dog bite equaled its bark.