Asa Hutchinson: “when I was elected to the House of Representatives back in 1992, I spent 2 years serving in the minority-- 2 years; in…”

“when I was elected to the House of Representatives back in 1992, I spent 2 years serving in the minority-- 2 years; in 1993 and 1994--before the Republican victories in the 1994 elections brought about the first Republican majority in the House of Representatives in 40 years. Having now been on the majority side for 5 years, I am very appreciative of the 2 years I served in the minority. Having had the experience of knowing what it is to be in the minority, to have the agenda set by the majority side, to have the frustration of having vote after vote in which you come up on the short end, is important. I think it helps me in understanding the frustrations the other side has experienced. It also helps me understand now, being in the majority, how hard it is to lead and to govern. I remember in those first 2 years, we were pretty organized in lobbing criticisms and lobbing objections and in presenting our agenda to the American people. We didn't have to worry about legislating. We didn't have to worry about passing anything. We didn't have the votes to do that. But we could do a lot in framing the debate. As we approach the end of this session, it is much easier to criticize in the minority than to govern in the majority.”