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Louisiana: Senior Senator Sen. John Breaux (D) Last Updated January 8, 2004
John Breaux, once the youngest member of Congress, is a Democrat first elected to the House in 1972 and to the Senate in 1986. He grew up in the politically fertile soil of the Acadia Parish seat of Crowley in Cajun country, the only child of a dressmaker and an oil field worker who spoke French before he spoke English. After graduating from LSU law school, he practiced law for a year, then got a job with a young congressman from Crowley named Edwin Edwards. When Edwards was elected governor in 1972, Breaux ran for Congress and won the seat, at 28. Quietly in the House, more publicly in the Senate, he became a natural dealmaker, with contacts developed everywhere from the tennis court (he is one of Congress's best players) to the Democratic Leadership Council to Mardi Gras in New Orleans (where he performs every year playing a washboard). His views on issues have a Louisiana Cajun accent: market-oriented with populist twists on economics, culturally conservative and strongly anti-abortion in the Louisiana mode. He has encouraged people to think of him as a cynical dealmaker: "I'd always rather have half of something than 100% of nothing," he likes to say. But over time it has become apparent that he does have a core of beliefs and has developed strong principles on issues he has worked hard on. After serving 14 years in the House, Breaux took the political gamble of his life and ran for the Senate. These were the Reagan years, and Republicans were advancing in the House, and the Republican candidate, Congressman Henson Moore, was ahead in polls and led in the all-party primary. But Breaux held him under 50% and then overtook him in the runoff. In the Senate, Democrats had regained the majority, and Breaux compiled a middle-of-the-road voting record and a bent toward bipartisan coalitions. He was chosen chief deputy whip in 1993 and was mentioned as a candidate for majority leader when George Mitchell retired in 1994; instead he supported Tom Daschle. He was less successful in influencing the Clinton administration. He opposed the 1993 Clinton stimulus package and the Btu tax, and helped defeat both. As the administration moved to the center after the 1994 elections, Breaux had more successes. In 1998 Breaux became a major force for reform of entitlements and health care. With Judd Gregg he introduced the CSIS Social Security reform, with 2% of income in individual investment accounts. In January 1998 he was named chairman of the bipartisan commission on Medicare, and labored for more than a year with Republican Bill Thomas and others to come up with a bipartisan plan. Breaux modeled his approach on the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan; he would allow Medicare recipients to choose from an array of choices of competitive health care plans and provide them with a specific amount of "premium support" to buy into a plan; most plans would include prescription drug benefits. He got bipartisan support, from the Republican appointees and Senator Bob Kerrey, but was one vote short of the 11 required for an official recommendation to Congress. On Medicare, Breaux is at his most uncynical. "The good news is that people are living longer. The bad news is that people are living longer. It's a challenge. And if we don't figure out how to handle it, it becomes a problem." With Republican Bill Frist he prepared two legislative versions of his Medicare Commission proposal, in 1999 and 2000. In January 2000 he proposed a tax credit for the uninsured. Breaux opposed a stand-alone prescription drug benefit as unworkable; in June 2000 he was the only Democratic senator who voted against the Democrats' drug benefit, saying it was "good politics but bad policy." In the 2000 campaign George W. Bush endorsed something much like Breaux-Frist as the centerpiece of his Medicare proposal, but Breaux criticized it, opposing Bush's proposal for aid to state prescription drug benefit plans and arguing that the Bush tax cut would take up funds needed for Medicare changes. After the November 2000 election, Breaux was the first Democrat who went to Austin to talk with George W. Bush. He urged him not to start off emphasizing Medicare or Social Security, but to start with education reform, on which the parties could get used to working together. He voted with Bush and Republicans on several key issues. In January he was one of eight Democrats to vote to confirm John Ashcroft; in February he was chief co-sponsor with Frank Murkowski of the bill to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; he was one of three Democrats who opposed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill, arguing openly that it would hurt Democratic chances. On taxes he stayed obdurately centrist. With 15 other senators, including a couple of Republicans, he resisted Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut which failed by one vote; then he and others agreed on a $1.35 trillion cut, which passed 65-35. Some Democrats would have gone higher; Breaux kept the cut down. In November 2001, with several other moderates he proposed a compromise, with both business tax cuts and increased aid to the unemployed, on the post-September 11 stimulus package. On HMO regulation, Breaux joined Bill Frist and Jim Jeffords on a bill to would expand patient's rights but not the right to sue employers; but a more expansive bill supported by John McCain, Edward Kennedy and John Edwards passed the Senate. On prescription drugs, he and Olympia Snowe and Jim Jeffords produced a "tripartisan" plan; Breaux opposed the Democrats' version because he wanted broader changes in Medicare, believed it would get Congress micromanaging the prices of drugs and said its cost was indeterminable. Tom Daschle prevented the tripartisan bill from going forward in the Finance Committee, where with Breaux's vote it had a majority; it, like other prescription drug plans, failed to get the 60 votes required to pass in July 2002. On major entitlements, Breaux made little progress. In July 2001 he and Gregg reiterated their support of changes in Social Security. But Democrats soon were busy campaigning against change, and Republicans feared to bring the issue forward. On Medicare, Breaux and other moderates called for a plan that would give recipients three options, including the current program with a prescription drug benefit, a new fee-for-service program with deductibles for hospital and physician services and a Medicare HMO with defined benefits. But in January 2003 Breaux reacted negatively to George W. Bush's rather vague call for major changes in Medicare. And in January 2003 Breaux called for universal health care, going farther than he had before. He proposed that all Americans get a government-defined basic insurance package similar to that provided by the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan, with subsidies through tax credits for lower- and middle-income recipients. He reacted negatively to the tax cuts George W. Bush proposed in January 2003, and by April had made no move to advance a compromise proposal as he had in 2001. Breaux has stayed busy on less high-profile issues. One focus is wetlands: the Breaux Act, providing $40 million a year to protect and rebuild wetlands, funded by user fees on small boat engines and motor fuel; he hailed the approval of a Red River National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana. He serves on the Migratory Bird Commission. In January 2003 he added to the omnibus appropriation $13.5 million for emergency and disaster relief to Louisiana oyster and shrimp producers. With Charles Grassley and John McCain he sponsored a bill in 2002 to increase trade with Turkey. During summer 2001 Breaux mused aloud about running for governor and noted that if he didn't run in 2003 at 57 he probably never would. In January 2002 he ruled out a race. In early 2003 he said he hadn't decided to run for reelection in 2004. If he runs he is considered sure to win, probably with only weak opposition, as he did in 1992 and 1998. If he should surprise Washington and decide not to run, the race would be wide open. In early 2003 the most likely competitors seemed to be House members, Republican David Vitter and Democrat Chris John. But Louisiana's governor race may produce other contenders: Bennett Johnston was elected to the Senate here in 1972 just after he had narrowly lost the governor's race to Edwin Edwards, and Mary Landrieu was elected in 1996 a year after she ran unsuccessfully for governor.
Update: January 8, 2004
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