Not all Republicans have been dining on pork

The president had a good week - a very good week, topped by theNorthern Ireland peace accord. While Republicans were mired indefending a $218 billion pork-laden highway bill - their new slogan:"the GOP: the other white meat" - Bill Clinton was riding the moralhighway, a glistening, well-marked, eight-lane expressway to 67percent approval ratings.

In Chicago to tout his school reconstruction proposal, hereminded the nation that the highway bill will not "matter very muchif we let the education system come crumbling down."

But while House Transportation Chairman Bud Shuster, thearchitect of Mount Rushpork, tried to explain away his creation,another group of Republicans spoke out, Rep. John Kasich among them.Traveling in Iowa, he blasted the highway monstrosity: "I think theRepublican Party lost its way on this bill."Kasich is a member of the Renewal Alliance, a caucus of 30Republican members of the House and Senate whose vision for thecountry involves more than just the repetition of the word "Monica."They're committed to reinvigorating civil society in order to fightpoverty and provide opportunities for those not breathlessly awaitinga 10,000-point Dow.Earlier this month, the Alliance held a press conference tolaunch its legislative agenda. "It's true," Rep. Mark Soudersaid, "that our agenda does not have the pizzazz, the sex appeal ofother proposals. We need to convince our membership, our base, andwe need to convince our leadership."The Alliance has proposed several Real Life initiatives. Firstis a state-based charity tax credit that, in its latest incarnation,would provide a credit up to $500 per family for donations made topoverty-fighting groups. Such a bill already has been introduced inPennsylvania with no cuts in government social spending to make upfor lost tax revenues. The hope is that as lifetime limits onwelfare assistance kick in, and work deadlines approach, there willbe a new pool of involved citizens to provide both money and time tohelp those who have not been touched by Alan Greenspan's genius.As Sen. Dan Coats, the primary mover behind the Alliance, putit: "The Great Society was a dismal failure. Yet when governmentretreats, problems remain. And confronting those problems is a moralresponsibility for our nation." It was bittersweet to see Coats atthe news conference talking about that moral responsibility andremember that next year he will not be in Congress. With Coatsleaving politics, there will be one less champion against theestablished forces within the Republican Party whose vision of goodgovernance begins and ends with a tax cut.Representatives J.C. Watts and Jim Talent, members of theAlliance and sponsors of the Community Renewal Act, know that moreneeds to be done to restore what they call "the shattered economicbase of our inner cities." After the charity tax credit, this act isthe second major plank of the Alliance's agenda.The third plank of the agenda, publicly funded opportunityscholarships for families with incomes at or below 185 percent of thepoverty rate, is a response both to the alarming state of urbanpublic schools and to the growing demand from minority parents forsome real alternatives.These three initiatives combined, according to Sen. RickSantorum, "will do more to assist those suffering from poverty,addiction, crime, abuse and neglect than any legislative initiativeoffered in decades." But the passage of any significant reformdepends on the leadership being committed to it. If the Republicanleadership bulldozes the reforms proposed by the Renewal Alliance,Republicans will have to sit back in the months ahead and endure alot more ribbing from the president about how wrongheaded theirhighway priorities are and how beholden they remain to specialinterests at the expense of the working poor.Also the GOP would have a lot more moral authority when ridingits high horse about the presidential scandals if it did notcompletely surrender the moral responsibility to address America'surban crisis. Republicans who think they can just ride Monica intothe White House in 2000 need to think again.Arianna Huffington is a nationally syndicated columnist andauthor of Greetings from the Lincoln Bedroom. E-mail: arianna@ariannaonline.com

Not all Republicans have been dining on pork

The president had a good week - a very good week, topped by theNorthern Ireland peace accord. While Republicans were mired indefending a $218 billion pork-laden highway bill - their new slogan:"the GOP: the other white meat" - Bill Clinton was riding the moralhighway, a glistening, well-marked, eight-lane expressway to 67percent approval ratings.

In Chicago to tout his school reconstruction proposal, hereminded the nation that the highway bill will not "matter very muchif we let the education system come crumbling down."

But while House Transportation Chairman Bud Shuster, thearchitect of Mount Rushpork, tried to explain away his creation,another group of …