Proof that Gingrich & Co. don't know what they're doing.

• Author: Heilemann, John
• Position: Newt Gingrich and Republicans in Congress

It was a cold day in early December when the new Republican leaders dropped their first Newtron bombs--proposals which would eradicate government personnel but leave buildings intact--on the Congress they would soon be running. In the House, the soon-to-be Speaker said he was wiping out the use of taxpayers' money to fund special-interest "legislative service organizations" such as the Congressional Black Caucus. Meanwhile, on the other side of Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans were taking aim at the General Accounting Office (GAO), which they want to slice by 25 to 50 percent, and the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), which they want to get rid of entirely.

Faced simultaneously with their first symbolic challenge--the caucuses--and their first substantive one--the GAO and OTA--in this dawning era of Republican congressional reform, Democrats picked the wrong fight and fought it badly. In defense of the caucuses, they managed to sound at once selfish and shrill, calling the GOP plan "an assault on diversity"; "an attempt to silence free association"; "mean, reactionary and ... border[ing] on racist." In defense of Congress' investigative arm and its best-respected source of research, they managed to sound even worse: silent. Incredibly, not a single Democrat raised a voice in protest.

Maybe it's not so incredible. At a time when the most wild-eyed Republicans are talking about scrapping everything from welfare to federal income taxes, the attack on the GAO and OTA must seem pretty minor. In fact, it speaks volumes. Republicans say they want to shrink the government by slashing bad programs and by ridding the bureaucracy of waste, fraud and abuse. Yet here they are, planning either to cripple or abolish the two congressional agencies which consistently come up with the kind of information lawmakers need to do just that. And the press, typically, failed to point out how vital these agencies can be.

At their best, the GAO and OTA perform a mission virtually unique among Washington agencies: They look at programs and regulations to see what works and what doesn't. Over the past 20-odd years, both organizations have identified literally tens of billions of dollars either wasted or, more often, simply spent unwisely.

And, just as important, they have turned the public spotlight on programs that aren't performing as advertised and suggested ways to fix them. If Republicans want to downsize government intelligently--a worthy goal--the absolute...